It wasn't the requested McDonalds, but Rally found the equivalent of a sidewalk cafe, and had a momentary nostalgic wish for a Chicago hot dog. Sitting down she tried to avoid looking at Shanti, who was currently bubbling over with curiosity, waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
Rally eagerly hoped it would hold until they were somewhere more private than a public restaurant. The she really would rather not deal with the subject at all, hence the attempt at delay.
Eventually, Shanti couldn't hold herself in.
"Were you really in the Earth-Minbari War, Rally?" the girl asked, eyes wide.
"It's not something I like to talk about, Shanti," Rally said.
"But that was the biggest thing to happen in the last twenty years," Shanti protested. "Were you a fighter pilot?"
"No," Rally said, eyes looking up cautiously to see the reaction of the people nearby.
"She was probably infantry," Vivi said, wincing as Rally directed a glare her way that screamed the word "traitor."
"Of course," Shanti said, turning toward Vivi. "Rally taught us everything we know about..." she stopped and looked around as she realized what she'd been about to say. "Well, anyway, of course, I'll bet your were the best soldier of all."
"Shanti Vincent, this is not the place," Rally said firmly.
"Vincent," a voice behind the woman said. "The Stalking Cat?"
Rally's face turned grim as she turned around and looked to see what she knew was going to be a minbari standing behind her. Indeed, she recognized the dark uniform of the warrior caste almost instantly. Looking toward the twins again, she turned about to face the grim minbari man glaring down at her.
"I don't like that name," she said in heavily accented minbari.
"I thought you humans were proud of your reputations as murderers," the warrior said with a sarcastic drawl.
Rally glanced toward the girls again, who were watching the exchange of words with a rapt nervous expression.
"I'm not arguing about this," Rally said, turning back to face the girls and returning to English. "I'm going to go get us some drinks, all right?"
She started to stand up, but was shoved back down into her chair.
"This argument is over when I say it's over," the minbari warrior snapped angrily, Rally rolling her eyes in irritation.
The minbari confronting her was hardly the best she'd ever had to fight. She could tell by the way he was acting like a local schoolyard bully.
Her irritation, however, turned to concern as she saw what was coming next. Shanti had stood up furiously and moved forward toward the minbari as Vivian also got to her feet.
"Don't you touch her!" Shanti shouted, moving forward.
Rally spun out of her chair to a standing position, pushing her shin into the back of the minbari's knee and pulling him down with a grip on his shoulder before holding out a hand towards Shanti.
"Calm down," she instructed Shanti firmly, but without shouting. "Kitten. Calm...down."
"Sit down before you start something, Shanti," Vivi whispered insistantly, earning a pointing finger from Rally.
Shanti's face fumed for a moment before taking a deep breath and sitting down in a huff. Watching her, one eye on the minbari behind her, Rally nodded at Shanti encouragingly and smiled comfortingly.
"There's no problem, Shanti," she said, and then nodded toward Vivi as well, gesturing for the other girl to sit down.
"I could snap you like a twig, human," the minbari behind her said.
Turning toward him, and waiting to frown until Shanti could no longer see her face, Rally looked up toward the minbari that stood nearly a foot higher than her.
"I know that," she said, switching again to the Minbari language. "Nowhere near as strong as you. So what? Not important."
Another minbari came up to the scene, dressed in the bright robes of the religious caste came up to the two and spoke rapidly in minbari such that Rally couldn't follow it. Eventually the fuming minbari warrior turned on his heels and moved away.
The second minbari turned toward the woman, a smile on his face that belied a sad look in his eyes.
"I apologize for the trouble," he said in English. "There are still many hard feelings especially in light of the apointment of a new commander to this station."
Rally thought back to the soldier that Vivian had helped earlier.
"Captain Sheridan," she said in realization. "Yeah, that would make things tense."
"Because Sheridan is the only human captain to defeat a Minbari cruiser?" Shanti asked.
Vivian groaned and shook her head at the question as the minbari and Rally both looked rather uncomfortable for different reasons.
"Yes," the minbari said. "That is the basic nature of the problem."
"I might have just made things worse," Rally said irritably, glaring out towards where the warrior had vanished.
"I wouldn't worry..." the Minbari let the sound stretch out as he wait for a name.
"Rally Vincent," the ex-bounty hunter said.
There was a brief widening of the eyes as the man recognized the name.
"I see, yes," he said. "That might have, indeed, made things worse. Still, you seemed to handle things well enough. My name is Lennier."
"Would like to join us for lunch?" Rally asked. "A thanks for the help?"
Lennier glanced up at the name and menu of the mini restaurant they were talking at. The grimace on his face told of the numerous health issues that would develop from regular consumption of the so-called "fast food" served here.
"That's quite all right," he said. "I have duties to attend to."
He started to turn away after a brief bow and then paused, turning back to look at Rally.
"Your Minbari...could use some improvement," he said before a final bow and leaving.
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(Posted Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:14)
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