More Fun to Explore With a Friend, Part III

Posted on Thu 26th Apr, 2018 @ 5:27pm by Captain Ranulf MacBain

1,272 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Tivoli Gardens, Deck 1554
Timeline: MD7 1230hrs

The river boat ride ended all too soon and Ranulf stood offer his hand to Jenna. "Any recommendations for lunch? After all you are my tour guide." Ranulf smiled, "Any steak-house buffet type places on this deck?" He was hungry and the short boat ride had made him more aware of his stomach's requirements.

"Rock Falls Inn probably has steaks, but one deck up, easily reached by escalator near the Inn, there's Casino Royale, and I'm quite sure it would accommodate anything you are in the mood to eat, include a steak buffet. Choice is up to you, because I eat almost anything except fish," Jenna replied. "As a bonus, you can walk behind the waterfall on 1553. It falls three decks, from 1552 to here, but that's the only place you can walk behind it. From this deck, you get to see the entire thing, but from there, you can get wet," she laughed.

Ranulf listened as they walked off the riverboat. "I am good going to this Casino Royale, dinner anyway. I have noticed on other bases the best food is also where the adult sort of entertainment is. So it figures a good place to eat is connected to a gambling hall." Ranulf shrugged his shoulders, "If you do not mind, I am fine. Walking behind this waterfall might be a fun experience as well."

Shrugging her shoulders, Jenna admitted, "I'm not a gambler. I know risk is the whole point of it, but I don't have anything I'm willing to lose that easily, nor any need to win that big. The restaurant is nice, though. It's in the hotel part. Did I mention it's a hotel AND a casino? We don't actually have to walk through the casino." She skipped forward a step to keep up with MacBain, as they left the dock and began down the River Walk toward the falls and the inn.

"The previous owner of the whole place sort of made my blood run cold the few times I saw him. I heard he had an awful temper, but I never saw that. He was just the tiniest bit ... sleazy is what Jade called him. I think slimy might have fit better," she laughed. "Anyway, I haven't met the new owner, but I heard it's a woman."

"Oh, look! The swans have come down from the temple and they have the little ones!" Jenna pointed to the right, where there were several large swans swimming close to the bank, and a couple of smaller ones standing watch over about a half dozen cygnets.

"I do not see any machines to buy food, so I am guessing you are not supposed to feed them." Ranulf watched them pass by. "This place just is full of surprises." He glanced at Jenna. "So do you need to worry about bird droppings from on high?"

He laughed, "It really is not funny, you know. I was in a zoo once, and a bird nailed me square on top of my head. It was really gross. Worse yet was it took me a few seconds to figure out what had happened. I got a lot of laughs that day! Comedy is not my best talent. Sometimes I manage to be in the middle of something that others find funny though."

"Oh, I can imagine you didn't find that at all humorous," Clark responded, suppressing a smile. "I've not found that to be a problem here, but then, we don't actually have all that many birds. Enough, but not too many. However, since you mentioned the zoo, we do have one of those. The San Diego Wildlife Zone, and it's right on the same deck where we are going for lunch! So what do you think about that?"

"I'm fine, I can always buy a hat on the way there." Ranulf had a happy smile as he pretended to be checking the shops out for a hat. He made eye contact, "You will let me buy lunch, yes?" He waved his hand upward in surrender, "I mean you are spending all this time showing me around, it is the least I can do really." He looked at her with puppy dog eyes "Yes?"

Jenna laughed, as he had no doubt intended she would. "If it's that big a favor to you, sure," she said, as they ambled along toward the end of the walkway. They walked along in companionable silence for a bit, and she remembered that he said he wasn't that funny ... no he said comedy wasn't his best talent. She found him quite amusing company, but maybe that wasn't the same thing.

Following her train of thought, she asked, "So did you want to be a comedian when you were younger? It's a far cry from piloting a fighter, it seems."

"Me, wow no. I usually only make people laugh by making a complete fool of myself." Ranulf made eye contact. "I was basically raised by four older men whose sense of humor was trying to trick me into doing something dumb. I do not do that to people. It was fun? It was not comedy though. I grew up wanting to be a pilot. I was not accepted, so I enlisted and spent some time as an enlisted marine. The powers that be finally found me, and I was sent to be an officer and a pilot." He shrugged his shoulders, "Now you know just about my entire life."

They came to the waterfall and Jenna stopped to watch it cascade down the three decks, only a small mist reaching them where they stood. She thought about what he had said, and what he had not said. Buried somewhere in there was a lot of hurt, but she wasn't going to dig. If he wanted to share he would. It did explain, though, why she had learned so little about him.

"I'm surprised you weren't accepted first thing, but I suppose the years as a ground-pounder might come in handy, even in a fighter. Combat is combat, no?"

He looked at her and she could see the wheels turning as he thought it over. He looked out over the waterfall. "I can not say for sure. I have been three years flying a fighter in some of the worst places in the galaxy, but I have yet to fire my weapons in combat."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye without turning his head. "It seems to me, though, in the black, in the fighter, the distance between you and the other person? I think it would be more clinical, more detached from the reality of the fighting." Ranulf smiled, "If it ever happens, I will be sure to let you know if it is the same." He winked at her before looking back over the waterfall.

"With the way things have been around here, lately, that might not be so far off as you imagine," Jenna answered solemnly. "But it isn't here today, so let's go have lunch, and live in the present. What was it my third year teacher always said? Let me see if I can get it right."

After a moment of thinking, she said, "Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present."

"Living in the moment has always been my way as well. You are never promised a tomorrow after all." He nodded his head to go, and they walked around to enter the hotel and walk to the restaurant. The buffet was well stocked, and Ranulf ate maybe more than he should have.

 

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