Dinner in the Grand Ballroom

[Samantha McManus]

"I curate at the National Museum in Dublin."

[Nailah Weaver]

"That explains the accent. What about you, what brings you here?" she turns to Amanda.

[Amanda Weinrich]

"I'm on my way to a conference." Amanda said "I'm supposed to be giving a paper on Meso-American burial rituals."

[Nailah Weaver]

"I'm starting to feel inadequate." she chuckles.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well, what is it you do?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Oh I'm an editor for a publishing house back in the US."

[Amanda Weinrich]

"Without publishers, we'd all be out of a job." Amanda replied.

[Samantha McManus]

"And here I thought I'd get more riddles out of you like I did in the elevator," she teased.

[Steve Jones]

"My dad works for NASA," he blurted out, trying to feel less irrelevant.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Well then." she chuckles.

"Where are your parents anyway?"

[Steve Jones]

"They went out to some fancy restaurant and left me here," he said, obviously annoyed by it.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Everyone needs a break and some time to themselves sometimes." she smiles, almost a bit ruefully.

[Samantha McManus]

"And to go where no one knows you, aye?"

[Altamira Vazquez]

A woman in a slinky red dress was the next to walk in, smiling a secret smile.

[Nailah Weaver]

"For some vacations it doesn't matter so much where you go."

[Samantha McManus]

Samantha's eyes strayed to the person who just entered and fixated there for a moment before a faint flush crossed her freckled cheeks and she turned back towards the others.

[Steve Jones]

Though Steve was used to stunning redhead, he still stared briefly. He was, after all, a teenage boy.

[Nailah Weaver]

Nailah follows Sam's gaze for a moment, then quirks her eyebrow with an amused smile.

[Samantha McManus]

Samantha gave Nailah a look as if to say 'What?'

[Altamira Vazquez]

She went to the placard marked "Vazquez" and sat down, nodding at the assembled guests.

[Amanda Weinrich]

"The menu is impressive." Amanda said, looking up from hers, having totally missed the staring at cute girls.

[Nailah Weaver]

She just shrugs with an innocent look as if to say 'None of my business'.


"It certainly is." she agrees with Amanda. "What do you say we split a bottle of Chateau Mouton for the table?"

[Samantha McManus]

"That would be lovely," she said perhaps a bit hastily.

[Altamira Vazquez]

The lady in red just smiled, and nodded.

[Amanda Weinrich]

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Amanda said "And helps me narrow down dinner."

[Narrator]

Not much later they all had their main course and wine (except Steve of course), served by a green-haired waitress that looked oddly familiar.

[Samantha McManus]

Samantha blinked as they were served, casting an eye to their waitress.

"...must be his sister," she murmured once the waitress had finished.

[Steve Jones]

Steve gave Samantha a mysteriously knowing look and dug into his dinner.

[Amanda Weinrich]

"The food is very good." Amanda said, trying to break the silence.

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye. I'm liking the prime rib."

[Altamira Vazquez]

"I've tasted better, but this is quite acceptable," the lady in red said in a notable Spanish accent.

[Samantha McManus]

"Seems you're a bit far from home as well. On holiday?"

[Altamira Vazquez]

"A bit of an exploration, yes. No, not an exploration, what is the word...an excursion? Yes. I suppose you could call it a holiday."

[Steve Jones]

"I expected more English people in, you know, England," Steve commented jokingly.

[Samantha McManus]

"You're one to talk," she chuckled.

[Steve Jones]

"Why whatever dun gave me away?" he said with an exaggerated Southern drawl.

[Nailah Weaver]

"Almost the thickest accent at the table." she chuckles.