Mechwarrior: Wolfin Arrival, updated

Story by forsakenwerewolf on SoFurry

, , , , , ,

#1 of Mechwarrior: Wolfin Arrival


Chapter #1

It had been two years since the commander and his assault force had been ordered into the Terran Sector of the Galaxy. Their mission had originally been to establish contact with the local populace and spread the offers of peace and trading. Then he had only been a captain, though field promotions are granted quickly when an Admiral's ship is destroyed during supposed peace talks. Now he was a Fleet Commander, tasked with the job of repaying the human's for the treachery that cost the lives of two battleship crews and a dozen frigates. He had proven his worth to the High Command, after taking over command of the remaining Wolfin fleet and hammering back the opposing assault group that had been hiding behind the planets moon.

Since that first outbreak of fighting, it took a total of eight hard months and guerrilla warfare on the ground to put it fully into their control. Planet Skye had then been held by Clan Jade Falcon, two months after the fighting ended his people were finally able to help the civilian population start to rebuild their world. After the capital city had been lost during the fighting. He then won the populace over by putting his own dreadnaught in harms way to save a refugee laden city. Though he had known from the beginning that his ship would be safe, having hot dropped two full squads of heavy assault suits on the edge of the city. He had grown fond of the local's nickname for the suits, though after watching some of their holo-vids he knew the reasoning. Werewolves were now the new name of the heavy assault suits, towering at one hundred feet and being an armed and armored version of the human's mythical creatures.

Three months ago on routine patrol, four human assault dropships appeared on the ships scopes. Within thirty seconds ten more dropships appeared behind them, decimating the poor jump ship that had run out of power upon entering the system. At the one minute mark they were hailed by one of the fleeing dropships, who were asking for asylum from the Jade Falcons. After what felt like an eternity the ability of his battle proven crew won the fight, and cost two Jade Falcon dropship crews their lives. He knew his crew never grew tired of watching the orbital class rail guns core a Jade Falcon ship, at least not since that fateful day two years prior. Five hours later he was standing on the bridge greeting a new ally, Galaxy Commander Anastasia Kerensky. After their initial meeting he came to find her aid remarkable, especially since she had somewhat of a history with the planet and the Jade Falcons. He truly did have to admit she had her own sense of style when it came to handling people...and battles, sometimes reminding him of the great wolves from home.

There was a loud crash of a door nearly being kicked from it's hinges, then a wickedly playful feminine chuckle as the large wolfin bristled as he readied for a fight. "I told you that you worry too much ya blasted pup...." Anastasia Kerensky sauntered into the room with her usual deadly grace, wearing what she had opted for when not in fatigues. Black leather covered much of her body along with red piping down the arms and legs, with black widows embroidered onto the high collar of her jacket. She watched as his massive wolfin form stood to tower over her, chuckling at his mock growl of annoyance. "Ya know pup...you remind me of an elemental more and more every day I'm around you." She watched as he stood to his full height of just under eight feet tall, wearing heavy black armor plating from neck to claw tips.

He moved away from his desk and towards her, noticing she had the sword he had given her strapped to her hip. "You still can't pronounce my name can you?" He said in a very deep voice, before chuckling as she answered him with the best growl he had ever heard from a human. "Do you want to go and see what my people have done with your...mechs? We don't have that much spare armor, but internals haven't really been needed yet. So I've had my people do some upgrades to your groups mechs so they won't fall behind ours in combat." He knew from the beginning of the ground fighting that the human's war machines overheated far too easily, though they could put out a heavy amount of damage doing so.

"No...I cannot pronounce your blasted name! I doubt any of Terra's best linguists could even attempt to pronounce even a third of your people's language..." Anastasia suddenly calmed herself as she realized he had mentioned upgrades to "her" peoples mechs. "Upgrades...like?" Her forced calm broke as her curiosity peeked and broke her normally forced calm.

"Well I cannot just tell you...much better to take you to my ship and show you for yourself, besides I've had them tweak your Ryoken II some." He waited a moment for her reaction and found her once again unreadable. "Quit doing that Anastasia...you know I don't like what you human's refer to as a stone face...." He trailed off as he watched Anastasia burst out into laughter, raising a furred eyebrow as he watched.

"Sorry pup." She gave him one of her rare true smiles, having grown to trust his decisions or the past few months. She thought for a moment the remembered she had forgotten to wear her pilots attire under her clothes, shrugging off an out of place thought. "Lets go see what you have had your people do...and see how long it takes be to much that to it's limits." She gave a slightly wicked smile at the last bit, and then heard him chuckle.

"I don't doubt you will at some point or another, but lets get going...females first." He said as he waved a hand towards his once again broken door, hearing her chuckle softly as she turned. He smiled as he admired her more athletic form from the back, tearing his gaze from her rear as he moved to follow her.

Almost two hours later they finally had managed to make their way into the heavily fortified base where the Wolfin were working on the Steel Wolf mechs. The Fleet commander had chosen the decimated capitol city as a perfect place to house the major part of their base of operations, especially since eighty seven percent of the city lay in rubble after Malvina Hazen's forces were ordered to destroy it. He sadly had to admit that the blasted woman and her warship had slipped through his grasp and escaped, though he knew for a fact that she was unconscious at that time.

He tore his mind from memories as they walked up on the last checkpoint before they would get to the machine bay that was nestled snugly under the city's surface. Standing guard were two human Elementals and one Wolfin Lieutenant wearing combat armor, he had to admit it was an imposing sight to see. "Lieutenant, we are here to check on the status of the Steel Wolf mechs...mainly hers." He said as the Lieutenant made a light bow to him and Anastasia.

"I would ask for credentials, but there is no need with you Sir." The young Lieutenant gave a light smile, before motioning the two Elementals to step aside and let them through. "They've really had to do some rework...I heard one of the non-coms growling about a crack in your mech's framework Mam."

"The last time I was in battle I took a few Gauss round hits, so that does not surprise me Lieutenant. Now Pup can we please go in there?" She asked as she looked up at the Fleet commander, before hearing a deep rumble of a chuckle from the Lieutenant and the two elementals. She watched as the Commander seemed to bristle, before he quietly muttered something in his native language that made all three go silent. She quickly followed him into the next hallway, her curiosity peaking. "What did you say to them to make them go silent?" She asked as she lightly touched his armored forearm.

He stopped for a moment and looked down at her with a wickedly wolfish grin. "I just asked them if they would like to trade their gravy positions for ones cleaning up rubble in the cities. And if you must call me something...please call me Dark. That is at least part of what my name would translate into." He watched as she started to laugh and then suppressed it.

"Ok Pup...I will call you Dark when we're around people then." She felt herself letting her more carefree Tassa Kay side show more, especially since Pup had brought them into his ranks of warriors. She had kept her position with her wolves, while not having to worry about any more greedy underlings trying to get her into a trial. Pup had forbidden most of the trials, especially since she normally left her opponents dead at her feet. She followed him to the next door and into what she could only describe as a massive refit and staging bay. At one end she could see half of her people's mechs in different stages of being upgraded, though her eyes locked on her mech. Or at least she thought that was her mech. She and Pup moved quickly to that end of the bay, but that was mainly due to the fact that she ran flat out. As she got within twenty meters she knew it was her mech, though the entire cockpit was now covered by an armored wolfin head that had a black widow painted on it's forehead. She noticed two Gatling guns nestled on either side of the head along with two new weapons mounted to the wrists of her mech's arms that she didn't recognize. "Dark...what the hell are those?" She asked as she looked over at him, her dark red hair covering some of her face.

He smiled and looked up at her machine as he smiled some. "Those my dear are concussion cannons. We upgraded your machines gyros to compensate for what they can do, but given what I've seen in previous battles." He looked down at her and smiled. "Those can obliterate cockpits, smash armor, or knock down an opposing machine that gets too close." his smile turned slightly mischievous as he looked back up at her machine. "I've seen footage of previous battles you've been in Anastasia, you tend to end up nice and close to your opponent at times. Just be sure to have solid footing before you use them, if your up in the air....your machine will be on it's back when you land. Trust me on that one..." He said as he thought back to his training days, when he had triggered his concussion cannons at incoming fire, while he had been jetting through the air. His instructors had not been happy when his fifty two ton machine flat backed and knocked him unconscious. He eyed a nearby Wolfin technician and walked up to her, idly noting her more Timber colors. "Is her machine ready for her?" He asked as Anastasia moved to his side, getting a light nod from the she-wolf in return.

"Yes commander, we finished the rest of the diagnostics this morning. Everything checked out ready for combat, though please excuse me I need to get back to my quarters." The she-wolf said with an almost breathless tone to her voice, before Dark and Anastasia noticed the musky scent coming from her.

Dark stepped back quickly as he smelled what he knew was the technician's heat, though notably the early stages of it. "Yes...yes you are releaved, now get back to your room and take your medicine." He got a few quick nods from the technician, before he smiled and added. "And your mate is releaved as well, we can't have you going crazy on us." He quickly took hold of Anastasia's arm and led her back to her machine without a word, shaking himself lightly to try and clear his head.

"What the hell was that all about?" Anastasia asked as she gave Pup a bewildered look, not having a clue what the she-wolf's musky smell had been. "If my machine is ready I would like to take it for a test run, if that's ok with you Pup." She said as she watched him regain his composure and smile down at her.

Dark looked down at her and smiled lightly, having almost forgotten that humans didn't have to deal with such things. "She's entered the first stages of heat, I had to releave her or risk having her pheromones effect everyone here." He waited a moment and chuckled as he watched Anastasia realize what he had just said, making her mouth hang open for a moment. "We keep medication on hand to suppress the amount of pheromones she will put off, but all of our technicians are mated pairs so she and her mate will be confined to quarters for the next week. Whether they bare offspring or not is their choice. We like humans have had to develop forms of birth control, or else our race would have bred itself into starvation long ago." He watched as she closed her mouth and blushed lightly, a rare sight to see and he knew it. "Wait here a moment, I will be right back." He said as he moved over to a group of techs that were running some diagnostic checks on equipment.

"Now that is something I was not expecting to hear..." She said softly as she looked up at her machine, wondering just how the old girl would handle now with the upgrades that had been installed. She heard Pup bark out an order to a few of the technicians, before she watched them scramble off to do his bidding. She watched as he walked back towards her, holding what looked like a much smaller version of his armored suit. "If that is at all as heavy as it looks the answer is no..." She grumbled as he came up beside her smiling.

"Is the great Anastasia Kerensky afraid that a suit I had made for her personal use would be too heavy for her human body to handle?" He said with a wolfish grin spreading across his maw. "This my dear was made for you, it's the prototype for the rest of the suits we're having made up for your people. It also has a temperature control system that hooks into your mech's existing coolant lines." He said as he looked up at her mech, knowing he would most likely get hit for his questioning remark.

"Well since you put it that way...lets get up to my cockpit and I will try it on." She said in a sultry voice, forcing herself not to chuckle as she watched his body stiffen. "Besides...you have to show me how to get into my mech since you had the cockpit armored up." After a moment she watched him motion towards a set of stairs that would take them up to the cockpits, following on his heels as he went up them. She had to resist the urge to yank on his tail as they ascended.

Once inside the new cockpit hatch Dark set the armored suit in the command chair, while listening to Anastasia close the hatch behind them. He was about to ask why she was closing the door when he heard the unmistakable sound of leather falling to the deck plating, his curiosity forcing him to turn. "What are you...." He trailed off as he watched her shed her clothing with unnatural speed, his mouth agape as she stood straight and faced him. Without thinking his eyes scanned her fur less body, admiring her athletic and deadly form.

"I swear if you start drooling I'm going to call you commander puppy in front of your entire fleet!" She said as she moved towards him, chuckling as his ears folded back and dread replaced the awe on his face. She moved passed him and decided to tease him, giving him a good view of her rear as she bent down and grabbed the lower half of the suit realizing it was much lighter than it looked. She quickly sat on the arm of the command chair and went to work getting the lower half of the suit onto her body, finding that it fit her form exceedingly well. "How the hell did you get my measurements so precise?" She asked as she grabbed the upper half, inhaling sharply before she moved to slip it on as well.

As Dark watched her slip the upper half of her suit on he snapped back to himself again, trying to shove away the image of her nude form that now seemed to be burned into his mind. "They took full body measurements while you and your people were being checked in the medical bay two months ago." He watched as she picked up her helmet, noting that she smiled when she saw the black widow on the wolf's forehead again. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get over to Feral so I can meet you up top. When you start her up, the techs will guide you to the exit ramp." He said before exiting her cockpit and latching the hardened hatch, before he quickly moved down the catwalk towards his own machine.

Anastasia slipped on the Wolf's head shaped helmet and smiled as the suit fully activated, feeling it lightly cool against her skin as she sat down in the command chair. She quickly hooked the coolant lines into either or the suits shoulders, before strapping herself in. Her mind racing at top speed as she ran through the start up procedure she knew by heart, saying her memorized password to unlock the controls as the fusion engine rumbled to life. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why she was getting more attracted to Pup, knowing some of her previous choices in men had been disastrous. "Gotta get my head straight..." She grumbled before triggering her external Mic and speakers. "This is Anastasia Kerensky...could someone please show me to the door?" She clicked off her mic as she watched the side view screen zoom in on a male wolfin technician that was waving at her from his parts hauler.

Ten minutes later Anastasia's upgraded Ryoken II marched out onto the testing fields, while her escort turned back and shot away at top speed back to the complex. Two Werewolves saluted her machine as it easily trudged passed them, before the Ryoken II started into a dead run. After hitting maximum speed it leaped into the air on jets of super heated air and plasma, before it came to a slow stop after landing softly sixty meters further than it's previous jump distance. Anastasia smiled as she looked at her heat curve, noticing it hadn't moved more than a hundred degree's or so. She then noticed the power output gauge that wasn't there before, noting that it was at mid-range now. "Ok...I thought this was a testing ground...where is the testing...oh." She watched as two machines rose up from what looked like devastated buildings, noting them as a Catapult and a legionnaire. "Ok then...this may be a bit tricky..." She was cut off as the lock on warning sounded a second before the Catapult disappeared in a cloud of missile exhaust. She stomped the pedals for the jump jets and rocketed into the air a half a second before the Gatling guns on either side of her mech's head sprayed a few thousand rounds of ammo into the air. She watched as all eighty warheads lit off in front of her, before she landed harder than she wanted to. "Ok...that's what those are there for..." She noted audibly, before firing her Er PPC's straight for the Catapult's missile racks. She quick cycled the particle cannons and shot another blast of man-made lightning at the Legionnaire's chest, scoring two clean hits before it returned fire with it's massive rotary autocannon. "Stravag!" She lurched her machine to the right and planted a knee, before triggering the concussion cannon mounted on her mech's left arm. She watched in awe as the high explosive slugs triggered in front of her, before cursing again as her mech was pelted with debris from the detonated shells. She was about to fire her ppc's again, when she noticed that neither apposing mech was firing again.

"Very good work Galaxy Commander, we were afraid you would forget those were there. The Fleet Commander will be meeting you at Nav point alpha, please go at best speed." Came over the comm in Anastasia's mech, before both of the opposing mech's slowly laid back down and powered down. "By the way mam...we're operating those machines from within the complex." The comm went silent after that, only to have a Nav point pop up on Anastasia's HUD on her main view screen.

Dark sat in his powered down machine with it hidden in the rubble of what used to be a large apartment building, his mind running at top speed over recent events. He had to admit he had been growing more attracted to Anastasia, even though she was a human. He had finally started to get over his grief at the loss of his mate, having watched her battleship explode in the Jade Falcon's false peace meeting with the Admiral. His mind had almost fully hardened against humans after that, though after seeing the pain and tragedy that Malvina Hazen had cause to the civilians of this planet it softened his view of them. He sighed as he realized that she had tested his resolve lately with some of her light acts she had done, showing him that she too had some feelings for him as well. "Forgive me my love...I've grown to care for a human female...would you ever forgive me?" He whispered to himself in his native language, not realizing that he still had his comm unit on.

"I believe she would be proud of you sir..." Came the soft voice of a female technician that he thought he had ordered to quarters with her mate, making him jerk his head up and smack his helmet against the back of the chair. "Calm down Sir, I'm the only one that heard that little question. I served on her ship before we came here and knew her, she would be happy that you found a new mate."

"I thought I releaved you and sent you to quarters to be with your mate?" Dark asked as he looked up at his view screen, and then noticed that the she-wolf was on vidcomm.

"You did Sir, but duty before pleasure and our duty is to oversee operations on the testing grounds. We are in our quarters and yes that's a sheet." She said as she rubbed the fabric lightly. "You are our Alpha and from the trench diggers to the warriors piloting the Werewolves, we will follow our command no matter who you choose as a mate." She did a Wolfin version of a giggle and slapped a paw away. "Besides...we've already found a heat addled Werewolf pilot hunkered down in a room with a Steel Wolf elemental, so you won't be the first of us to mate a human." She looked away from the screen and smiled before looking back. "Speaking of which, She has just reached Nav point Alpha. The fields camera's are all engaged and running a live feed through the complex, minus the comms of course. Power up and engage at will, you will find her easily reached on command circuit one." The vidcomm blanked out as the Technician killed her end of the line.

Dark sighed as he triggered his start up sequence, knowing it wouldn't take her upgraded systems long to pick him out of the interference. "Time to put on a good show and test her Skills properly."

Anastasia scanned the buildings for signs of movement or foul play, knowing Pup was a very hardened opponent to face. She had noticed a lot of interference on her scanners in the past couple of minutes, making her wonder just what he was piloting. Her answer quickly came as the apartment building beside her erupted, her instincts making her light off her jump jets to evade the threat. German curses flew quickly from her mouth as a concussion blast blew apart the building that had been on the other side of her, leaving her a clear view of what she had heard Pup call the Feral. She instantly recognized what had once been an Atlas, though it had been heavily refit if not redesigned. The skull head had been replaced with a evil looking wolf's head, that sported a concussion cannon on either shoulder. She spotted what had to be wolfin design rotary autocannons mounted on the left arm, before having to light off her jets again to escape the heavy stream of slugs that they spat out at her mech. She returned fire with her ppc's and ducked behind a building as the "RAILGUN! How the hell did they fit a rail gun to an Atlas?" She said as she watched the quarter ton slug smash through a building where her mech's torso had just been. "How the hell can an Atlas's gyro handle that weapon firing...oh shit.." She watched as the Feral leaped into the air on jets of super heated air and plasma to score a hit on her mech's upper torso with three medium lasers. She answered the fire with her own medium lasers, while launching a full salvo from her SRM packs. She watched as half her missiles exploded mid-flight, while the others danced a neat line up the Feral's chest after it landed a couple hundred meters ahead of her backpedaling mech. That is the point at which she noticed the hands were now clawed, especially since the monster of a machine was now charging at her. "Damn you pup!" She literally growled as he mech went down on one knee and slammed either arm into the buildings ahead of it. "Hope this works..." She triggered both concussion cannons on her mech and stomped her jump jet pedals so they would shove her machine forward as well. She watched as both buildings erupted at the Feral, before her machine rose straight up into the air. She launched another salvo of SRM's into the haze of dust, before watching a few hundred rounds of autocannon ammo spray the area she had just left.

Dark checked his damage readouts and grumbled lightly as he saw his rail gun's barrel was damaged, taking that weapon out of the game. "Feisty little she-wolf isn't she." He checked his thermal scanner and noted that the upgrades to her cooling system were working well, before tugging the trigger again for his rotary autocannons. "She knows how to use those concussion cannons now...can't jump at her this time." He smiled as he quickly moved the Feral after her, blasting her latest volley of SRM's that she had launched with one of his concussion cannons. He triggered the command circuit and chuckled lightly. "How do you like your upgrades?" He asked calmly, while making Feral dodge to the right to escape a ppc shot.

Anastasia literally growled into her comm as she hot cycled her weapons and lashed out with her lasers and ppc's to try to slow the advancing Feral, noting it was slightly more agile then the last Atlas she had seen in battle. "Love them...Though it would be lovely to be able to get this Feral wolf of an Atlas to stop coming so damned close..." She trailed off as she made her machine dodge a slash from the Feral's claws, before triggering an Alpha Strike at what would be the lower torso of the Feral. "Bad doggy...play nice!"

Dark watched as every weapon port except the concussion cannons on her mech lit up at once, lighting up the Feral's lower torso and decimating most of the armor there. He felt his machine lurch back, before one of his view screens showed her raising a concussion cannon at him. "Shit..." was all he could say before the cannon knocked the Feral backwards to land hard on it's back. He felt himself get jerked hard against his harness as his machine landed, making him thankful for the armored suit he was wearing. As he shook his head clear he noticed her mech walk up to his, before feeling it's heavy foot plant itself on the Feral's chest.

"Yield Pup." Commanded Anastasia as she aimed her weapons down on the severely damaged area of the Feral's torso. She had finally managed to spike the temperature of her mech some, noticing it was still in the mid range of green. "Yield or I will put the Feral..."

Dark didn't give her time to finish her sentence, triggering both shoulder mounted concussion cannons at her machine. "Never!" He almost roared into his mic as he watched her Ryoken II topple backwards and land sitting with it's back firmly planted in the rubble of a building beside Feral.

"Ok that's enough you two...killing weapons systems now..." Came the voice of the she-wolf technician once again, only this time over both their comms. "I'm Sorry commanders but I'm not letting you two total each others machines!" Both commanders could tell she was breathing hard. "The testing is very well complete...oh gods...please bring your machines back to the complex for repairs....oh...I'm gonna..." The line went dead as Anastasia and Dark both burst out into laughter.

"Was that the technician you sent to quarters earlier?" Anastasia asked as she forced her Ryoken II to stand, before watching the just as damaged Feral slowly get to it's feet.

"Yes...yes it was. I think we should head back to the complex now...she's already uploaded the coordinates it seems." He said as he noticed the new Nav point, idling trying to force his mind to stay on track...and clear. He watched as Anastasia's Ryoken II moved to the remnants of what used to be a six lane highway through the city, following close behind as she started back towards the complex.

Almost an hour later Anastasia's Ryoken II and the Feral were parked side by side in the staging area, while their pilots both moved for the stairway that would lead them down to the floor. Both still wore their full suits and helmets, though Anastasia was carrying her clothing she had been wearing before. A few of the technicians congratulated them, while the two of them did see the Wolfin foreman shaking his head some. Dark had been surprised to see that Anastasia's sword was now strapped to her armor covered hip, as he moved beside her down the stairs. As they neared the bottom of the stairs, two well known comrades approached them.

Alexia Wolf Marched up to the two commanders with a slight bit of a wolfish grin on her human face, though both could tell she had been sweating a great bit. "Well you have got to be the shortest Wolfin I have ever seen..." She gave a slight pause as a growl came from the shorter of the two armored figures, though her smile deepened. "Easy commander...I was only wanting to congratulate you on a successful test of your mech, but Jacobs here was wanting to check with Commander Dark on something. The six and a half foot tall brown furred Wolfin beside her nodded lightly, before ushering Dark to the side. After a moment she watched as her Galaxy Commander removed to wolf's head styled helmet and pulled her long dark red hair from within her suit. "So is machine really an Atlas?"

Anastasia sighed as she looked back and up at Feral, before turning back to Alexia with a somewhat satisfied grin on her face. "It...was. They have had to do some extreme rework to that machine to be able to make it do the thing's it does." She mounted to the massive dented barrel on it's arm and shuddered. "That thing is a snub-nosed rail gun. If he had wanted to he could have cored my mech with his first shot...he was testing me though so he aimed for a place that would make me dodge." She looked back and couldn't help but notice some bandaging poking out from Alexia's fatigues. "Alexia Wolf...you know our orders since we were inducted into the Wolfin ranks. No trials unless they are authorized by the Fleet Commander...." She trailed off as the other woman blushed deeply, confusing Anastasia some what.

Alexia felt her cheeks burn as her Commander noticed the bandages, quickly straightening her fatigues. "It wasn't a trial mam..." She found herself at a slight loss of words, trying to think of a way to tell her commander what had happened. Finally she looked over at Jacobi and smiled a truly happy smile, before turning to see Anastasia's mouth hung open lightly. "Sorry commander...I'm fine truly...its just that well..." She ran a hand across her face and sighed, watching as Anastasia returned to her normal composure. "Wolfin customs are slightly different from ours, I will let you find out for yourself." And with that Alexia moved to follow Jacobi as he headed back towards the command center of the complex.

Anastasia's mind was now running at top speed again as she walked up beside Pup, noticing a light smile on his face. "Why are you smiling Pup? And why did Alexia have light bandaging on her shoulder she was trying to hide?" She asked in a hushed voice as she got to his side.

"Well Anastasia...they make the second human and Wolfin pair I've heard about, and the bandages would most likely be from them becoming mates..." He looked down at her with somewhat of a mischievous grin. "Or did you not notice that one of your pilots was walking funny like she'd just got done mating?" He watched her blush some before he decided to test his luck. "Care to join me for dinner?"