Alicia smiled a little at the mention of something simple she had not had for who knows how long. It would be interesting to see if they had those pigs-in-a-blanket that Sophia wanted. Alicia herself just wanted food in general.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">“Well, not my first choice when I get there, I may go strait for the sweets, I wander if they have any good steak cooked... ohh, or better, chocolate cake!”</span>She said before just waving in acknowledgment that Sophia would go first, and then they would meet there later. First she had to admire the view out the front window for a bit more time before going to see if there was anything in her closet.<br/><br/>She began going through what she remembered she had packed into her closet, and thinking of what would be formal enough. She knew a dress or two that her mother had sent her would work. Ok, those dresses had been sent to her a while ago by her mother, and they were only in the closet because Alicia had cleaned out her apartment of cloths, and sold what she wouldn't be able to bring or what was supplied. There was a nice red one that may fit. Well, it fit her mother anyway.<br/><br/>After spending a couple minutes enjoying the view out the viewscreen before she pulled herself away finally to leave the bridge to the people that belonged there and to clean up and get ready for the Banquet. By the time she had reached the room, she could Hear Sophia moving around in her bedroom, getting herself ready, and she knew it would take her longer. Alicia needed a shower first. She only climbed into the shower stall after pulling the said red dress out of the closet and start looking for the shoes that went with them.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">“Ok, they got to be in here somewhere. It's not like there are many they can hide behind. I only have 3 pair that are even just sitting out... maybe I never took them out of the box that mom sent them in?”</span>It took her a minute to find the box buried under some empty ones and setting them out on her messed up, unmade, bed.<br/><br/>Her room was mostly filled with some work equipment, above the network jack in the wall was her personal workstation and 4 screens that displayed whatever she was directly working on in her off hours. On another bench along the other open wall she had multiple pieces of electronic equipment. It was her work at trying to build a smaller version of Shakti's AI, something she was working on if she could find some engineers skilled in robotics ad cybernetic technology. To the left of her bed was a small bookcase stacked with some older style books. Of course at last half a dozen were on the floor though, as well as some of the components from the small core.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue"> “Great, I will have to probably repair some of the pieces. Worry about that later...”</span>the bathroom was small with just a toilet sink mirror and a standing shower stall. It's door was next to the closet's entrance.<br/><br/>After spending the time in the shower she finally came back out with a brush running through her golden blond hair. She needed it to be as strait as possible and dry as possible after they drying machine used in the bathroom. It would be bad if she had wet hair and messed up the dress before she even ended up at the said Party.  A wet Red dress wouldn't look good at all.  when it was completely dry she left it hanging to her shoulder blades at her back, and behind her ears other than a couple strands she left loose to frame her face.<br/><br/>That she insured before she started digging through the cloths drawer for her underwear, going for a strapless bra so there were no straps showing when she would put the dress on. She slid the thing over her head and then wiggled around in it for a moment to get it to settle over her curves properly. It was cut so that the front of her collar was visible and a v-neck down to just above the center of her chest, and cut low on her back, and the straps of the dress going over her shoulder and meeting the back under her arms on her side. It actually fit her form pretty well as it hugged her sides, stomach, and hips well before it draped down to about her ankles without the 2 inch heeled shoes that went with the dress. Along her right leg up to just above her knees was a slit in the cloth of the dress that allowed for easier movement. The final touches were to put the red heels on and wrap the thin strips of leather around her hamstring. Then she moved and stood in front of the mirror for a moment after her hair was brushed enough to actually look soft and shine a bit to look like gold.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">“Damn! Thank you mom for suggesting I take the dresses you gave me. If I hadn't I would have this to look at, I would have only had my uniform to wear.  thank god I take after her too.”</span>It seemed to fit well even though Alicia had never had it modified after she had received the old silk dress.<br/><br/>She had only been standing there admiring herself for a few minutes before there was a voice coming over the speakers of her personal console on her desk, where she had left her datapad, and where her usual uniform was sitting in a pile, adding to the mess on the floor.<span style="color: Lime">"Your still missing a few things."</span>Shakti advised, using the small camera on the computer to see her mother.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">"Oh right, thanks."</span>she said a bit before moving over to her work cloths and digging in the pile to find her black ops combat knife.  This she took and wrapped it around the inside of her left thigh so that the straps and knife itself would not be visible.  as soon as that was done the AI spoke up again.<span style="color: Lime"> "No, not that.  didn't your mom send you some jewelry before?  I know I saw you unpack the box for it.  and some lipstick couldn't hurt."</span><br/><br/>Alicia rolled her eyes a moment before looking around for that said box, she knew the one, the necklace had been a birthday gift at 16 that she had lost while in high school.  Her mother had found it and sent it to Alicia again when she had been discharged.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">"I never wear lipstick...  but if you insist..."</span>she said while digging through a couple of the drawer's of the dressers, trying to remember where she had put that necklace.  The only reason she didn't argue at all was because, looking at the clock, if she didn't leave her room in the next couple minutes she was going to be late for the Banquet.  Thus she finally smiled when she found the small box and pulled out the small necklace.<br/><br/>This necklace fit the dress perfectly, a gold chain allowed the small teardrop gemstone ruby the size of her pinky fingernail to hang down to the bottom of her collarbone and sit on her chest.  her mother said the gold and ruby mixed perfectly with her blond hair, and after applying some red lipstick, Alicia just had to agree completely when she looked at herself.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">"Yup, that looks more formal than I have ever dressed, I like it, and hate it."</span>But with that, she should fit in with the others that would be dressed all fancy to be formal.  Yeah, she would have to get out of this dress as soon as it was all done and she was back in her room afterwords.<br/><br/>But she needed it for now, and she was glad again that she had worn it when she found her way, past a couple crewmembers who gawked at her, into the Mess hall that had been cleared for the banquet.  Alicia was thankfully just barely early when she walked in, and greeted by the sight of all the formal military uniforms, suits, and dresses that made everyone else formal for this evening.  those that stood out were easy to spot.   Especially the woman she had watched in the halls outside the Bridge earlier before the jump.  it looked like she hadn't done much to change her clothing as the merc talked to an Imperial against the far wall.  Maybe she would go talk to her later but first she would have to see if she could find Sophia.<br/><br/>Well, ok, the first thing was food as soon as the party started and everyone started dancing.  Instead of going to the dance floor, Alica made her way to the foot tables, and grabbed a small plate and added some of the fruit onto it, specifically some pieces of cut Mellon to begin with.  That was where she noticed that Sophia was stacking the said food that she had been so wanting.  that was a surprise, those didn't seem like a really formal dinner type food.  well, it made the tall woman happy apparently.  With her food, Alicia watched where Sophia walked over to, and followed her for a bit untill she found her position again.<span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">"Wow, you went for the little black dress look?  didn't expect that, but that's good you found the type of food you wanted."</span>she said from near Sophia before moving to where she could be seen.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>