Orion and Cass came down to dinner, once Orion had finished helping her get ready. As they made their way into the restaurant, Orion stopped by the maitre D's station.
"Hi, we're looking for the Goodall party." He told the man at the desk.
"The table isn't quite ready yet, I believe they're in the bar." He instructed them. "I can take you through..."
"No, we can find them, thank you." Orion replied. They headed for the bar area, finding the group sitting, enjoying a few drinks and some jokes. Troy was telling them a story, which everyone seemed to be struggling to keep it together as he did so.
"So then the guy said to me, 'you don't look like you need it either', at which I pull up my jeans and bang! You should have seen the look on his face!" He concluded.
"Dude, I would have loved to see that!" Noah told him. "That sounds like Marx; he's the big thing on campus right now. Campus security pretty much let him get away with anything because he's taking the baseball team straight to the championship."
"Well, if he can run around a baseball diamond, he can walk a few extra feet to the gym and leave those spaces for people with permits." Troy answered. "I was wondering why he never got a ticket though."
"Some things never change." Allison stated. "We might not be in High School anymore, but they still chase the backers from the sports teams, and who cares about everyone else."
"Hey, Orion, there you are!" Noah called out, seeing the Silver Ranger. As he came over, they saw the woman with him. Eric had explained about the new guest at the wedding. "I guess you must be..."
"Cass." She interrupted him, shaking his hand. "My mentor suggested I try something a little shorter."
"Well, pleased to meet you." Troy asked him. "I'm Troy, this is Allison, and you've already met the others."
"Yes, I have." Cass replied. "Oh, that reminds me, Gia, Cat, would you mind if I talked to you for a second?"
"Sure." Cat answered as she looked to Gia. They both got up, but as they did so, Cass noticed Orion wasn't getting up. She looked to him pleadingly, but he just nodded his head in the direction of the door. He had gotten her to realise that she had spoken out of turn, and had convinced her to apologise, but she had thought he'd go with her. Orion though wanted her to do this on her own. He was confident that Gia and Cat wouldn't do anything to hurt her, and he figured that this would help her learn that her words and actions had consequences that she would have to face if she wanted to learn to live in the world outside the reservation. "We'll be back in a second."
As they headed outside, Noah looked to Orion.
"So what was that about?" He asked.
"It's nothing; it's just a little lesson in cross-culture communication." He told them as the waiter came, pouring Orion a glass of wine. "So, the big day is tomorrow?"
"I'm definitely looking forward to it." Louise told him, holding up a hand, which was shaking. "Look at this, you'd think the second time around I'd know what to expect, but I'm still shaking like a leaf."
"It definitely doesn't get any easier with age." Eric agreed as he took a sip. "I can't believe this time tomorrow, we'll be married."
"Sir, your table is ready." The maitre D told them. Eric looked around the table.
"Can we have a couple more minutes?" Eric asked. "A couple of our guests aren't here yet."
"Of course sir, enjoy your meal." He replied.
As the maitre D left, Eric turned back to the table.
"What is it with Jake and being late?" He asked.
"Oh, he was early actually." Noah told him. "He texted me from our room here, he's gone for a swim before dinner. Knowing him, he's probably just lost track of time."
"Well, since we have some time, why don't you and Quinn tell us about this programme you're signed up for?" Troy asked him.
"Anton Mercer signed us up as interns on a major research programme he's heading up." Quinn informed them.
"Interns?" Allison asked. "You mean...you won't be getting paid?"
"It's three months on his private island on his top-secret research project!" Noah replied. "It's the kind of opportunity that doesn't come along every day!"
"Three months on an island in the tropics." Quinn said, pulling Noah into herself. "It's going to be so romantic...oh...and if the rumours are true, he has a genuine frozen cave man in that facility!"
"Yeah, he mentioned one of his excavation teams found that in Alaska." Emma told them. "Not to mention that island sounds amazing, I'd love to see it. I'm so jealous!"
Meanwhile, outside, Gia and Cat looked to Cass as she brought them out of earshot of the others. She had now figured that Orion wasn't going to be there to bail her out. She knew that Gia wasn't happy, that much was clear, but Cat seemed more upset than anything. Gia...she seemed to be the one to worry about.
"Um...listen...Orion explained to me about...everything." Cass told them. Gia just crossed her arms.
"He explained EVERYTHING?" Gia asked. "He's a good mentor then, to explain everything in an afternoon."
"No, I mean...he explained about what I said." Cass continued. "Where I came from, the preachers taught us a lot of things...things that Orion told me aren't necessarily all right. Where I came from, we were always brought up not to question the preachers. They were our teachers; we accepted what they said without any..."
"That doesn't sound like a good system." Gia said abruptly. Cat just looked to her.
"Gia, that's not nice." Cat reprimanded her.
"But she insulted..."
"That doesn't give us the right to insult her way of life. Her beliefs are obviously very important to her." Cat answered. "She is training to be a preacher after all."
"The thing is, Orion explained a lot to me about the preachers, how not everything they teach comes from the scriptures." Cass informed them. "He told me how some of their lessons are tainted by their...prejudice I think he called it?"
"Go on." Cat beckoned her.
"You, both of you have been nothing but nice to me." Cass stated, looking to them. "What I was taught about...I had no right to say what I did. It was unkind and cruel and hurtful. I'm sorry, and I hope you can forgive me. I would very much like to have you as friends."
Gia looked at Cass, and then at Cat. She could remember having the same issue with Orion a while back. In that instance, he had convinced her through his prejudice wasn't down to any genuine feelings, but ignorance, the fact he had never encountered anyone different from himself. She could see Cass standing, awaiting her judgement. Gia was generally a good judge of people's character, it was the reason she had given Orion the benefit of the doubt. She was sure that Cass was genuine. She extended a hand.
"I'm sorry too, what I said about your ways wasn't right. I guess I just lashed out." Gia answered in response, shaking Cass' hand. "There's nothing wrong with the lessons, and I shouldn't blame you or them because I have issues with the people teaching those lessons. Maybe you and Orion can teach your scriptures in a different way."
"That was what Orion said." Cass answered with a smile. "He encouraged me to listen to what others say and use the information to form my own opinions."
"That sounds like a pretty good lesson." Cat said, hugging Cass tightly. The Andresian was a little taken aback, but as Cat released her, she seemed happy enough.
"She's a little tactile." Gia told Cass.
"It's fine...I think I kind of like that about her." She responded. "Many of my people are the same way."
Just then, they heard someone approaching, and turned to see Jake arriving. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and he was dripping on the floor. He approached Gia and Cat.
"Hey, there you are!" Jake greeted them, coming over. Gia and Cat started laughing as Cass looked away.
"Hi Jake...that's...interesting dinner wear." Gia responded. "I don't think it'll catch on though."
"Ha, ha!" He replied sarcastically. "I went for a swim but like a bonehead I forgot my room key! Can one of you get a hold of Noah's?"
"I'll go and get it." Cat told them. "I think the bar has a dress code."
"Thanks Cat." Jake replied. As she left, Jake looked to Cass. "Oh, um...Gia...who's this?"
"Oh, right, this is Cassetopeia, but she's going by Cass." Gia told him. "She's Orion's neophyte."
"Ah, so you're Andresian!" Jake replied with a smile, offering her a hand. Cass barely looked at him, shaking his hand quickly, before turning away. "Yeah, sorry about this, I don't make a habit of running around like this." Cass just muttered something out, at which Jake smiled, seeing Cat coming back.
"Noah said to hurry up, everyone's hungry." Cat told him.
"I'll be down in 10, tell them to just order me the soup to start. I'll deal with my main course when I get there." Jake told them. "Thanks for this!"
As he ran off, Gia looked to Cass, and smirked.
"So...apparently Andresians aren't completely comfortable with partial nudity." She teased her.
"I...um...I don't know what you mean." Cass replied.
"Really? So...you turn that shade of pink normally?" Cat asked her.
"You think I...I desire...?" Cass asked them. "No, no absolutely not! I just met him! I have my studies..."
"Hey, no one's saying we expect you to marry the guy!" Gia assured her. "There's this little thing out here called 'look but don't touch' you know."
"I...I am not...I'm not here to seek romantic encounters, that is out of the question!" Cass told them flatly. "I'm here to learn from my mentor and nothing else!"
"Hey, it's alright to find someone attractive." Cat assured her. "Come on, let's get to dinner. The others will be wondering where we've gotten to."
With that, they headed into the bar to rejoin their party, and pass along the message that they could go in and order.
Up in his room, Jake was hurriedly preparing for dinner. He had gone for a swim in the hotel pool, something that he often enjoyed doing after a day of training. He still couldn't believe that he had forgotten to take his key card with him. He'd had no choice but to wait, dressed only in a towel and his trunks until he could see someone he knew to get the key from Noah.
As he pulled on his best pair of trousers, and a green silk shirt, he smirked. He could remember a time he hated green. He loathed any time the Harwood team had to play in their away shirts, and Jordan had even admitted that he had made his Corsair uniform green specifically as a joke. Over time, the colour had grown on him, and he was just as happy in green as he was in black. Making sure he had everything this time around, he made his way out of the door, and went to the elevator.
He got to the elevator, there was a family just stepping in. He sprinted, just catching the door and getting in, straightening out his blazer as he got in.
"Lobby please." He told the man by the button. On the journey down, listening to the jingle, he noticed something that was all too familiar. The mother and father were whispering to each other, while the kid just stared at him.
"It is, it is, I'm telling you!" The mother whispered.
"No, he was taller, I'm sure of it." The father whispered in response. Jake couldn't help smiling, seeing this. He noticed the kid was holding a toy replica of his Corsair blaster.
"Cool blaster kid." He complimented him, holding out a hand. "Mind if I...?"
The kid just nodded, handing over his blaster. Jake took it, and inspected it. He smiled.
"Wow, there's a good weight to this...this is pretty good quality." He said aloud.
"My sister sent it over from Japan." The mother told him. "He goes everywhere with it. He plays with it all the time."
Jake twirled it, and pointed it, posing with it for a bit, before smiling and handing it back.
"That's a pretty cool toy kid. Do you have the keys to go with it?" He asked. The kid just nodded, showing Jake a couple of keys.
"He has all of them! He's got a whole box full of them at home; he only carries the Corsair ones when we go out though." The woman assured him. "Um...look...I'm sorry to bother you, but would you...?"
"Sure thing!" Jake replied, taking out a pen. The woman offered him her diary, opening it to a page for him to sign. Jake gave her his autograph, which she seemed to be delighted with, just as the doors opened. Jake made his way out of the elevator.
"See, I TOLD you it was him!" The woman told her husband. "I was sure that was the...the GREEN Ranger?"
"I told you!" Her husband teased her. "I kept telling you the Red one was taller!"
"I was sure he was the Red one!" The woman said, putting her diary away as they took their son, and headed out the door for dinner. Jake just sighed.
"Story of my life." He muttered, before heading to the restaurant.