[Log] Fearsome beagles

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Grace O'Malley, Crew Commons [Greenleaf]
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The common area of the Grace O'Malley is cozier than one might expect from a ship of its nature. The entire area has been decorated in light, warm hues of gold, trimmed in green and set with furniture crafted from oak and tanned leather. The galley is a sizeable area set in the aft starboard corner, complete with modern appliances, excepting for a large, antique copper coffee urn to the end of one of the benches, and ample storage for whatever one might desire. Across from the main walkway and strewn with rugs woven from calico rags is a small dining area. A raw timber table stretches through the area, capable of easily seating ten to twelve and flanked by benches with a couple of chairs crafted from polished oak. The other full half of the commons to the fore has been converted into a small lounge, complete with a pair of couches, three cushioned armchairs and a couple of coffee and end tables.
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"Well I already told Ronnie we were here for a few days so I imagine you'll have plenty o' time to make your bed before then," Aradia says with a quiet chuckle from where she lies stretched out on the couch with her legs draped over Max's lap, albeit after having just kicked him with a heel at something or other he said that made him deserve it.


"And put away ll your toys," Max adds with a chuckle. "Do wipe down your walls though, don't want them getting sticky." He setles into his seat chuckling over that last one, but pauses abruptly as he thinks it over. "Wait, that's our quarters, isn't it?" Max asks Ara, looking a bit concerned.

Kael's face contorted a bit, "Sticky? What? You guys coat the room in honey or something?" He shook his head a bit, signing yet another piece of waffle it's fate and setting in place it's untimely demise. "But out of curiousity... How much can I customize my bunk? Got any restrictions?"

"Those bags are still beside the door waitin' to be taken out," Aradia says to Max before she looks over to Kael and says, "I promise not to laugh if you get yerself a pretty lacy pink coverlet for your bed, but unless you're goin' damaging Grace trying to rip bunks out o' the wall, don't much care what you can do with what you can afford or manage to do."

"Erm... no...." Max replies to kael as his eyes cut shiftilly from side and he hunkers down a bit to hide behind the couch. "Not at all." He glances to Ara and says, "I know, Finnn's still threatening to shoot me in places for eating his strawberries. I'm not going to offer him money to take them out until he stops being such a little stinker."

Kael Bowen laughs, shaking his head at Max, "You know.. hot oil works much better then honey." Kael grins and wiggles his eyebrows at Aradia, "Actually I'm more of a lavender man myself." he shoves the fork into his mouth, eating yet another piece of waffle with gusto as he sticks the last piece. Two waffles having fallen before the might of this fork, and the last bit of this waffle empire seeing it's execution waiting for it a mere foot and a half away.

Saienne stomps on up from the aft corridor, booted feet ringing on the metal catwalks until they meet and are muffled by the calico rugs strewn around and about the common area. She is carrying with her a shiny little PDA that bleeps and chirrups quietly, and in her other hand is the empty coffee mug from earlier in the day. She has again dispensed with coat and broad-brimmed hat - as might be expected - and has her shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbow. "Hey," she says, by way of greeting, and then those dark brown eyes widen - in somewhat of an exaggerated manner - again as she hears Kael's comments. "As if kitchen slaves ain't strange enough, now y'all're coatin' bunks in honey an' sewin' lacy pink coverlets?" She grins crookedly at the Captain. "What kind of an outfit're you runnin', if you don't mind me askin'?"

Still sprawled out the length of the couch with her head on the arm at one end and her legs over Max's lap, Aradia says to Kael, "Max's got more smelly flowery stuff than I've even seen in the Companion's spa onboard the Apollo." Her gaze turns toward Saienne with a wide grin before she says airily, "If I told you, you'd have no choice but to either join us 'n swear yer silence on what ye heard or...I'd have to set the hounds on you, or something."

"A terrible den of vice, villainy and... erm... more vice," Max adds from his semi-hiding spot on the couch as his vocabulary momentarilly fails him. He peeks over to Kael and factually informs him, "lavender is far too soothing. Need something spicy."

Kael shakes his head and eats the last piece of waffle, standing up and taking the plate off to the sink, "Oh? Perhaps a nice chartreuse then." he let out another chuckles, starting up again, "Well, I better get work on my crocheting. See you two later.." he started towards the door, making little noise if any as he walked. He came to a stop then, looking at Saienne, "Miss.. I'm sorry to say, but I can't talk long.." he offers his hand to her, "Name's Kael. But I'll have to push more formal introductions to a later time."

"Vice an' villainy," muses Saienne, "Is that so? Mayhap I'll have to take my chances with the hounds..." She begins to loop round towards the galley but meets Kael before she can get there. She reaches out to shake his hand, and the grip of her calloused hands is firm and even. "Saienne Olaeno," she drawls in a laid back manner. "Just hitchin' a ride to Greenleaf. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

As if on cue, or perhaps it was just hearing footsteps heading into the place from which food magically appears, a beagle waddles out from the fore corridor with his tail wagging and his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. With a short bark, he plops down onto his haunches between Kael and Saienne and looks up to them expectantly.

"As villainous as baby bunnies in a field o' daffodils this lot," Aradia says with mild amusement, her brow quirking and her gaze lifting toward the ceiling in thought for a moment. "Chartreuse?" she finally settles for just asking as she looks back down to Max.

"A hideous greeny-yellow," Max clarifies, poking his tongue from his mouth in distaste. "And I'm villainous on occasion!" he protests with a huff and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Nice to meetcha Saienne." Kael gave a quick nod, his hand shake was frim but a bit on the gentle side. He looked back towards Aradia, "Hey now.. I'm more like a bunny with big goofy lookin' teeth in a field o' dandelions." The corners of his mouth pulled up into a grin. He reaches down, patting the beagle on the head as he looks towards the door. he stood back up and starts making his way out, "Try not to pillage and plunder without me."

Saienne looks entirely nonplussed for the briefest of moments before her natural composure re-asserts itself. "Hell, I din't for a minute imagine you meant actual hounds." She peers closer to the beagle, then looks up and across at Aradia. "Although, I ain't seein' much evidence of bein' set upon." She reaches down and scritches the dog between its ears. "Hello there. Ain't you the handsome one? Ain't you just?" She looks up, sideways, as Kael heads out. "Be seein' you later, an' all."

The dog whines, bumping his head against Saienne's hand as his tail thumps loudly against the floor.

"That's because he can't smell sausages on ye," Aradia says with a wry smirk as she turns her head to look over toward the woman and beagle before she glances back to Max and asks, "Pillaging and plundering? I didn't know ye'd gone invitin' anyone else into bed."

Josephine can be heard from quite a distance singing a rousing ballad involving a young man and a..no several women..or is it just one woman several times? And it isn't until when she arrives in the commons that she realises that there are people here and she almost falls over dead from embarrassment. "Well then," she says, primly, with her face bright red, "Tea anyone?"

"I think he meant actual 'pillaging and plundering,' darling," Max responds with a wink and then looks to Saienne. "Watch out, they're all forty sorts of viscious. Horribly spoiled, too... for human flesh," he says, making the last bit as ominous as possible. Josephine gets a smirk and a wink, as Max teases, "mistake the corridor for the shower again?"

Saienne mutters, just audible: "Unless you count bein' slobbered over as bein' set upon..." She gives the dog a final scritch and then straightens up as Josephine makes her entrance. She glances at the blushing woman before continuing on her trajectory for the galley. With a crooked grin at Max, she says: "I reckon I'd do best to steer clear of 'em, then." She looks back across at the beagle.

"MRE will eat everything you give him 'n still sit there beggin' for more and acting like he's a poor abused and starving orphan down in the slums," Aradia warns Saienne, "'n he's been fed good and plenty this morning already." Looking over to Josephine, she breathes out with a quiet chuckle and the leans over to murmur something quietly to Max that sounds something along the lines of the crew cabins not having showers.

"There just usually isn't anyone in the commons this time of day, when we're planetside, at least," Josephine protests to Max, but already her blush has pretty much faded. She heads directly to the galley to see if anything needs to be tidied or cleaned, and finding everything to be pretty much already in a perfect state, she comes back over to rejoin the others. "Who's tormenting who at present?" she wonders, conversationally.

"Me vs. the 'Verse, as usual," Max answers Josephine with a smile. He nudges Ara lightly, and draws up his lips in a smile, "it's more of a reference to folks having the tendency to sing in showers... like you do, only actual songs instead of just dirty limericks set to the same tune." Saienne gets a serious nod, and a bit of advice. "Terrible fearsome creatures. Stomach on them like the gravity well of gas gianst... razor sharp teeth sharper than... razors!"

"MRE?" Sai questions Aradia; and then smiles. "Good job I ain't got nothin' to feed him with, then, ain't it?" She cleans her coffee cup quickly and then starts looking around for the best place to put it - settling for what appears to be a draining board. "Fearsome..." Saienne says, regarding the charming dog from afar. "Right you are... whatever you say..."

"Well you taught me them," Aradia says indignantly, "'n it's not like you've tried teachin' me anything else either." Sticking her tongue out at Max, she then turns her head to look over to Saienne with a nod and says, "Yeah, MRE. There's Maddie and Jynx too. Jynx is just a puppy still 'n Maddie's got the blue collar in case you got trouble telling her apart from fatso there."

Maxwell smirks, "every last one of them is horribly spoiled... and I swear, sometimes they act like they know exactly what's going on...." Max ducks down further against the couch, only his eyes and the top of his head peeking over as he regards MRE suspiciously. "They're plotting against us." As for the accusations of the naughty limericks being all Max has bothered to impart... well, they're true, so Max has decided to completely ignore them.

"Plottin? What could they possibly be plottin'? Canine domination of the 'Verse?" She grins, shakes her head, and comes out from the galley. "Well, I reckon I know well enough now not to tell 'em any of my deep an' dark secrets. Or to feed 'em." She chuckles a little and settles down on one of the benches in the dining area. "I hope it ain't goin' to bother you folks none if I get a little bit of work done while we're travellin'?"

"Actually, we already landed," Aradia says a little sheepishly. "Or at least I hope we did because otherwise we're on a collision course for Greenleaf with no one mannin' the bridge."

Maxwell nods seriously, looking absolutely terrified of the prospect of canine control. "they could well be... and no one can stop them if they happen to have found /my/ plans." He cuts his eyes from side to side again, and then straightens up. "Well, I suppose they'd have to be able to read."

Saienne looks nonplussed for certain now, and her composure does not re-assert itself as quickly as previously. "We landed?" Her question is asked bluntly, and she looks around at the interior of the common area as if for clues. "Good gorram but you folks have a quiet runnin' ship. An' a genius of a pilot." She lifts one hand to scrub at the stubble on the back of her skull. "Must have hit the dirt while I was takin' a nap..."

"She purrs like a kitten," Aradia says with no small amount of pride in her voice. "As for genius, well I wouldn't go that far. If you ask the pilot's husband, he's right terrified 'n clinging white knuckled to the control stick of his video game the entire flight worrying they're going to crash into an asteroid or somewhat," she adds after a moment of thought and a futile attempt to keep from grinning.

Well in her defense, part of the white knuckling would be from the games... the rest of course would be from her ramming the mule nose first into something every time we go for a drive," Max explains calmly. "But I still fly with her, so it can't be that terribly bad."

"She does run smooth an' even, don't she?" Saienne says, looking a little less perplexed. "I just ain't even able to remember the last time I slept through a landin'." She grins lop-sidedly, "I expect I was maybe just wiped out still from the ride from Persephone to Verbena. Now that was one hell of an unplesant trip." She shakes her head. "Those cargo caravans that zoom between worlds ain't ever a nice ride." She stops, suddenly, in realisation. "Er, not that I'm intendin' to derogate your skills an' all, Captain."

Mouth open to say something to Max, Aradia looks to Saienne with a perplexed look of her own and asks, "Derogate my what?" Pushing herself up from her lounging position and propping her elbows on the arm of the couch at her back, leaving her legs stretched out over Max's lap, she looks back to him and beams a wide smile as she boasts, "I got skills."

"indeed you do," Max says soothingly to Ara as he reaches out a hand to pat her on the head. "And some of them aren't even good for running into trees." He smirks evilly and then glances over to Sai. "Personally I'd take a cargo caravan any day over another passenger shuttle... Screaming children, foul smelling passengers, idiots on parade... And that's just me."

"Your... pilotin' skills?" Sai pinches the bridge of her nose in some annoyance - at herself, evidently. "Look, this conversation ain't exactly runnin' the way I anticipated. I keep wrong footin' myself by jumpin' to conclusions, I reckon. We ain't flyin'. You possibly ain't the pilot. I probably should offload myself from you folk here an' now an' go gettin' on with my business - I got a drop to make in an hour or so anyhow. Might as well poke around Greenleaf a little first." She begins to haul herself up from the dining table, slipping her PDA into a deep pocket as she stands. "Well, I ain't entirely sure about that. On occasion - on a long trip - I'm grateful for the company. No matter how smelly, idiotic or noisy. On a cargo caravan all you usually got for company are the guards, an' they ain't usually got a brain cell between 'em."

Flopping back down to sprawl on the couch, Aradia says with a chuckle, "Oh sit back down. I was just havin' some fun, 'n at my own expense in case you didn't notice my dear beloved mocking and ridiculing my ability to drive while I had the good sense not to point out that if he didn't flail and shout 'that way!' ten seconds after we passed the turns I might not scrape up so many trees." Glancing between Max and Saienne, she says, "Got to agree with Max on passenger shuttles, and you with cargo carriers. Worse when they're full o' cows," before she asks, "Where you looking to head from here anyway?"

"Bah, I like the guards," Max objects. "Usually personable enough, and those that aren't are easily swayed by booze and cards... which means that my trips almost always pay for themselves. Can't say much on the cows as I can't say as I've ever tried hitching with one transporting livestock." Max raises up from the seat and looks around with a grin, "I do believe I left something in the cabin, I'll be back in a few."

"Oh, no, Captain, it ain't that. I really do have a delivery to make in about an hour, an' I ain't got the faintest idea of the geography of this planet. I need to know where I'm goin' an' how to get there." She smiles faintly. "Could do with some fresh air to blow out the cobwebs, an' all." She looks full at Max for a minute. "Personable? Are you kiddin' me? You ever had to sit two months with... ah. No matter. I reckon we ain't goin' to agree..." She rubs the back of her head again. "From here? Ain't got no idea, as yet. I'm as free an' easy as the stars. Mostly it depends what I turn up. I got a couple of jobs waitin' on Persephone, but they're quite content to keep on waitin' until I've worked my way back there."

"I know someone in the trade office that's local to these parts if you need a guide," Aradia says thoughtfully. "Man goes by the name o' Chief. Head o' dreads 'n likely surrounded in a cloud o' rather fragrant smoke if his boss ain't nowhere nearby," she explains to the woman. "As for the return to Persephone, we're making our own steady way back there in a few days time if you're interested in staying on with us. Can keep yer bunk here too unless you're wanting to board planetside while you're here." Clearing her throat, she says, "Anyway, don't let me keep ye from business. If you drop in on Chief, let him know I sent ye."

Kael's boots made soft metallic 'thunk' noises as he made his way towards the Commons, which stopped sounding metallic when he hit the calico rugs. His foot came to a bit of a dragging stop as he entered into the Commons, "Well... finished makin' the bed and adding the chartreuse ruffles." The corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk.

Saienne nods, all business-like. "Well thank you, I will. Any kind of short cut to gettin' to know my way around down here is a bonus. Deliveries in unknown territory make me a might nervous." And at this, she does stand from the dining table. "I reckon I should be back aboard in a few hours - four at most." She starts to make her way towards the corridor as Kael re-enters the common room. "Pretty quick an' nifty needlework, there..." she says as she passes, with her typical crooked grin turned in his direction.

"Fair enough," Aradia says, adding in an obviously teasing tone, "I'll give orders not to shoot when you come back onboard." Looking over to Kael, she says sternly, "No shooting when she comes back onboard. Got it?"

Kael Bowen shakes his head from side to side, a gruff chuckle coming out of him at Saienne's comment, "Sure was.. I reckon I'm a natural." He tossed a quick wink to her in passing, turning back to everyone else in the room. His face went completely and utterly serious when she said that. His feet snapped to attention, standing back straight, chest out and salutes Aradia, "Yes, Ma'am!"

Maxwell wanders his way back into the commons, smiling personably and waving lightly as Saienne departs. "No shooting 'around her' either... just in case you get the notion," Max ads with a smirk to Kael.

Kael Bowen glances over at Maxwell, the whole facada fading away as he grins, "Ya sure? I enjoy shootin' random small little critters like mice 'n' imaginary ones too."