[Log]

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Mining Settlement, Haven
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Josephine experiences a serious bonding moment with Saienne as they struggle through the snow with the crate. Jo isn't really made for this kind of hardlabor, but what she lacks in strength and endurance, she makes up in sheerdetermination, following the lot of them to the rather sad looking miningcamp.


The Commons building was fairly run down but probably more 'well kept' then the rest of the buildings. It served as a sort of catch all building, from community kitchen to a larger 'infirmary' for the sick. there were a good few people inside here, most of them recovering from the illness. Towards the back of the room there was a kitchen, it was a tad on the run down side. Though, as it has been said, it's not because of lack of effort on their part. The kitchen is in relatively good order, just has fallen out of use. When the most of them subside themselves on protein stuffs.

Lucinda has left the trolley outside, deciding its better not to let the wheels drag muck and whatnot into the 'safe house' as it were. Her eyes take a moment to adjust to the change in lighting, taking the opportunity to lower her hood and unzip the heavy coat to expose her throat. Should someone announce who they are and what their purpose is? Lu apparently doesn't take time for such politicing, the cross on her bag is introduction enough. She's heading to a man nearby who is nearly doubled over in a fit of coughing. Time to go to work.

Josephine takes on the very important duty of announcing their presence and their purpose, doing so in a confident but genuinely friendly way that the poor, desperate people of this small settlement react to with profound gratitude. They welcome the visitors with open arms, helping the doctor to set up whatever she needs and providing open access to their little kitchen as they await a real home-cooked meal with looks of longing and anticipation. After their presence is well known, Josephine wastes no time getting set-up in the kitchen, unloading crates and pretending not to notice that various people keep stealing from the plate of cookies. She even has this uncanny way of learning and remembering just about everyone's names as she is introduced to them.

"We bring damn fine food." Announces Kael in a bit of a jovial voice as he knocks his boots off on the door frame lightly so as not to track in too much snow. He starts making his way back towards the kitchen, crate in hands. His mouth pulls into a bit of a smile behind the mask as he walks along behind Josephine.

The Man that Lucinda starts approaching waves at her with his free hand not held up to his mouth, as if to tell her to go away. He just then finishes his bout of coughing, saying to her, "Nono.. 'm alright I'll see Doc Conner 'n tha mornin', miss." His head shakes from side to side as his breath comes out a bit wheezy.

Saienne hauls in the crate she and Josephine were carrying from the shuttle and deposits it close to the kitchen, dusting the snow off onto the floor where it quickly melts. "An' damn fine ain't no exaggeration, nieither."

The town folk already seem to be picking up a little in spirits at the mention of good food, not to mention actually seeing it. The cookies do start disappearing and it's not long before word seems to have spread and more people start showing up to see if the rumors were true. Many of them walk in looking hopeful to down right tearful at the mention of someone here to help. Not to mention that as far as everyone heard, what started out as 'good people' turned into 'friends' then 'relatives' so more then a few people were curious who these 'relative' were not to mention who they were related to.

Lucinda gives the man a friendly enough smile, as best as can be managed when she has a mask over her face. "We're friends of the good Doctor, and I'd hoped you might consider me the same. I'm a physician as well, and thought I'd help out while I could....might nasty cough you have there, but I think I could help relieve that?" She strips off her gloves, anything to give her a more undaunting appearance.

Saienne, now that the hauling is done, is pretty much redundant... until one of the men in the Commons points out a bit of the roof in the corner of the building that has crumpled and fallen in under the weight of the snow. A tarpaulin has been slung from the beams to stop the worst of the weather, but icy air still blasts through the small hole. "Well now," says Saienne, rubbing her gloved hands together - not entirely in glee, but in something approaching it, "Somethin' I can do without thinkin' too hard." She turns around to the man who showed her the hole. "You folks got some tools an' some boards? It ain't goin' to be no professional job, like, but I'll see what I can do..."

Kael Bowen drops off the crate next to Sai and almost immediately starts rooting through the kitchen, looking to find bowls, utensils, all the like that would be needed for soup and food. He starts to pull them down, sorting through them and at the same time trying to get the people to start forming some sort of reasonable order, "c'mon, c'mon, start a line, let's get it against the wall, make sure everyone can get inside... don't rush! There's enough for everyone.." mutters a bit more quietly, "Or there better be.."

The man lets out a long sigh which results in further hacking into a closed fist. After another long bit of racking coughs he nods a little and then manages to get out, "Alright.. but I aint payin' for anythin'."

A few of the men around start looking about, one of them ducking into a back room before showing back up, holding a tool kit in one hand, it's a bit old fashioned, but it has your usual tools. A saw, hand powered drill, couple screw drivers, hammer, nails, that sort of thing. One of the ladies near by nods a little towards Saienne and comments, "I heard 'at they got sum down t'werds the pad. They j'st finished cuttin' dem earlier."

Lucinda guides the man to take a seat on one of the makeshift cots, taking one knee infront of him. "No need for payment, unless you think I deserve a kiss on the cheek when we're done." She digs in her bag briefly, producing a stethoscope. No amount of technology can replace the good ole stuff. She pops the ear pieces where they belong and coaxes the man to let her have a listen at his lungs.

Kael Bowen manages to get the group of people waiting for the food into sort of a semblance of order as Josephine got the soup back up to a nice warm temperature. Not long there after, Kael works on slicing up the bread quickly into slices to go with the soup, and then, the 'havoc' began. People started to slowly filter through the line, warm soup into bowls, a couple pieces of bread, and so on.

The man through another fit of more shallow coughs moves with Lucinda towards one of the cots and lays down into it instead of sitting. He commends back towards her, "Well... I'll see when I git better." He tries to manage a smile as he continues his wheezy breathing. Lucinda an hear that it's coming from his lungs not his throat, a sure sign of pneumonia.

The line started moving in a sort of shuffle step, each person managing to get a bowl of soup and a couple pieces of bread before they tried to find a place to sit down and relax. A few people went for the cots but were immediately shoo'ed off by other people. The constant drip in one corner from the slightly leaking roof persists, Sai presumably having left to try and get some of those wood planks that were talked about.

Lucinda lowers the stethoscope from her ears, snapping the ends around her neck. "You, my friend, have Streptococcus pneumoniae, or more commonly called pneumonia. As daunting as that sounds, its completely cureable and you'll be feeling a thousand times better just by tomorrow if you allow me to administer some antibiotics, you get lots of rest and lots of fluids. Sound good?"

Kael starts taking on a more of a somber look as he continues passing out the food, nodding a little and seeming to be trying very hard to simply concentrate at the task at hand and nothing more. His eyes stay locked on the food, and the bowl, nothing else. Every so often he mumbles a, "Your welcome, but it's Jose's soup." to the 'thanks' and 'thank yous' that are said.

The man nods a little, precariously almost as he looks over to her, letting out another bit of a congested sigh, "A'right, a'right, miss. Gimme these antimahoosits." His mouth pulls into a bit of a grimace as he manages to stifle another round of coughs just barely. His hands grip the side of the cot tightly as he does, relaxing his grip as the muffled coughing dies down.

Saienne, in the mean time, has followed the woman's directions and poked her way back down to the pad to search out the wood. When she ambles back, her furry hat brushed delicately with snow, it is with a few freshly cut planks balanced somewhat precariously on the trolley. "Knew there was a good reason Josephine brung this along," she says cheerfully. She pulls back the tarpaulin to scrutinise the hole, and then looks back down at the wood. "Well, they ain't been seasoned yet, but mayhap they'll close the hole up long enough to get the roof fixed good an' proper." She looks across to Lucinda, who is engaged with a patient, and to Kael and Josephine, who are being kept busy at the soup line, and she smiles a beatific - if entirely crooked - smile.

Lucinda is already pulling out her auto-injector and loading it, going for the fast if somewhat intrusive way to administer the drugs, but its better than trying to get a coughing man to take pills. She's engrossed in her work and doesn't spare a glance towards the others of her crew, "Alright handsome, you're going to feel a small pinch.." But before he can react, she's already pressing the nozzle to his jugular and dispatching the medicine with a small hitssssss of compressed air. If she gives patients time to react, they just might, and then people end up a bit more hurt than necessary.

Kael Bowen lets out a long sigh against the mask and looks damn near solemn as he continues to pass out the food. He looks up towards the people for a moment and attempts to shake the feeling off but he just can't seem to bring it to fruition. He shakes his head a bit and then frowns a little under the mask, nodding a little to the people that pass by and continuing to hand them their bread.

The man looks towards Lucinda, hearing that there might be a small pinch followed by the small pinch and looks a little stunned, "Hey.. hey that aint fair." His hand reaches up towards his neck, trying stifle a cough again but isn't so successful this time. His attempt to comfort his throat instead turns into covering his mouth.

Saienne pulls out the hammer and a tin of nails. Popping the lid, she looks in and selects a few that have survived without rust. "Fine an' dandy," she says, with satisfaction. "Just like my grandaddy's." She casts around for something to stand on, settling on one of the crates they carried from the shuttle. The snow, drifting slow and gentle and soft, starts to fall through the open hole.

Lucinda runs a soothing hand over the man's weatherbeaten forehead, waiting for the coughing to subside. She's not very mindful of the fact that she's kneeling in a puddle on the floor, but her attention is on her patient. "Fair or no, I'll be comin' back to collect my kiss. Rest for now, and I'll have someone bring you over a bit of water. Drink it all." Her eyes crinkle up, belaying her smile that she cracks underneath her surgical mask. She straightens then, looking for the next patient her gaze sweeping across Handy-woman Sai and Soup-kitchen Kael and Jo.

The place was getting a tad crowded by this point at time. Kael and Josephine were in the kitchen, Jose was workin' up a storm heating up soup and in general trying to keep everyone happy while Kael was working on dishing up the soup and cutting up the bread when they started to run low. Lucinda is in the area that's been somewhat cornered off as a make shift infirmary, a few people have taken seats on the cots that have been set up, but otherwise it's a relatively calm area. There's a line of people shuffling along through the food, taking their bowl of soup and bread before moving on to sit either in the common room or standing outside. Sai was moving towards the roof to fix the pool of accruing water from the leaking roof.

However Matty's gotten here, she's gotten here. Maybe she's been here all the time, just scouting around the outskirts of the place? No one knows. In any case, now she comes trudging into the settlement, rather more heavily dressed than usual even if she is a Saint Albans native. A thick down jacket over several layers of woolen underclothes, a thick knitted hat, a large scarf wrapped around her neck and lower face and a pair of thick gloves. Even her legs look thicker somehow and the boot she wears seem to be a few sizes larger than usual. On her back is a small backpack and tucked under her arm is a rifle, loaded and ready to fire.

The hole in the roof is not a complicated one - no unusual angles or rotten bits to negotiate - it's just that part of the building's gable end has crumbled along with the bit of roof that's fallen in. Sai stands on the crate, peering up into the darkness, and turns around to the man who fetched her the toolbox. "You ain't got a ladder lurkin' around an' all? Elsewise I'll have to perch up on these crates an' get you to keep 'em steady."

+taskroll repair: personal equipment at 25

Lucinda finds herself approached by a Mother and son, the latter of which seems to be clutching one arm to his chest. She speaks quietly with the pair, ascertaining that the boy has constant pain in his wrist and can no longer use that hand. Again the doctor ushers the pair to a cot, the little boy choosing to sit in his mother's lap as Lu tries to engage the boy in idle chatter while she checks the swelling.

Josephine's own smile might be hidden by her surgical mask, but everyone who passes by the little kitchen can see the warm sparkle in her eyes as she makes small talk with everyone and brings a smile as many people as she can. "Nothing like good warm soup in your stomach," she's saying, winking to a young girl. "My foot, I've never seen a moustache quite so grand!" she informs a middle-aged man. All the while, she's dishing out soup and giving out all the food they have to give as fairly as she can manage it.

Kael Bowen shakes his head a little from side to side and a smile even pulls at his mouth again as he looks over the people he's serving up with soup. There's not too many left now, but there's enough. He goes back to cutting the bread again, slicing it into nice thick slices as usual before going back to passing them out to the people going by. He starts nodding a bit more frequently and tells every thank you, "Not my cooking, thank the cook, she's a helluva fine one." His eyes flick over to Lu for a moment before returning to work.

The man lays back on the cot and after a bit he manages to get a cup of water, slowly drinking it. He still continues letting out a cough every so often, but the water seems to be helping a little to at least quell it. The boy whimpers a little as she takes it, his face turning into a little wince as he pokes at the mild swelling. He doesn't seem too much for talking and just mumbles, "I was just outside playin'... honest.. I din't do nothin' wrong."

Josephine's eyes light up, predictably, as Matty approaches. Her puffy coat which is really Aradia's is hanging on a hook nearby, because she got so warm working in the kitchen. "Fine, just fine. A hot meal does a world of good for folks, as I always say. And there are some mighty nice people around here. Andy over there reckons he can name over two hundred species of animals from Earth-that-Was, and I'd be half tempted to hear the whole list if I had any chance of knowing whether he was making it all up or what." She grins to a man, who is presumably Andy. "You doing okay, Matty? Not too cold? Happy?"

Kael Bowen gives a small wave towards Matty with his left hand as his right holds out another couple pieces of bread to the next person in line, "Hey Matty. Good ta see ya 'n' I'm glad to hear that we're free 'n' clear for the moment. Soup?" He asks, jerking a thumb towards the indicated pot, "We got some bread to go with it. /BOTH/ made my Jose." He wiggles his eyebrows a little at that notion as if that just made it at least five times more enticing.

Tasha adjusts her surgical mask carefully as she approaches the dilapidated mining camp's town hall. Nodding politely to any of the settlers who catch her eye, she slips into the town hall quietly as she looks for familiar faces.

Cold? Matty? Not a chance. Well, the bits of her face that has been exposed to the cold during her walk might look a bit reddish and now that she's inside, she's starting to flush quite a bit. "Nah, never too cold," Matty says and gives Josephine a wink, then shrugs out of her jacket, moving the rifle from one hand to the other as she slips an arm out of its sleeve. She looks over at Kael and lifts a brow, then grins under her mask as she looks over at Josephine. "Well, I never say no to food made by Jose."

"Hey lady!" Calls a bit of a higher pitched and younger voice. There a couple of eyes that poke from around the counter that is attached to a head with blonde hair, a little girl is addressing Jose, smiling widely. "C'n I have some more 'f that soup. It's Really good!" She stands a bit more out from the counter, her dress is a little on the dirty and plain side but she's cute as a button with a smudge of dirt along one cheek.

Lucinda smoothes a hand over the boy's mussed hair. "Of course you didn't sweetie. You're just too good at playing!" She reassures, then turns towards the mother. "I think he fractured it, but we'll splint it up good and tight. I'll show you how to wrap it so you can pack snow on it later to decrease the swelling."

Josephine clonks Kael over the head with an oven mitt, lectures, sternly. "This food's for the folks who live here and no one else. Nobody's taking off their mask to eat anything, you hear?" To Matty, she assures, "I put aside a few rolls for you folks, never fear. They're still on Grace..you can fetch them whenever you like. Preferably before they go stale." Without even blinking, she cleans the smudge of dirt from the girl's cheek with her dish towel. "Growing girls need lots of soup," she agrees, refilling her bowl with a modest second helping of lentils. "There you go. Eat slowly now," she recommends, trying her best to make sure there's enough food for everyone who needs it. At least for today.

The mother gives a little nod, smiling a bit on the worried side as he looks down at her boy, "Wel... how long do I need ta keep him inside an' 'way from playin' with ta others?" Her mouth pulls up a bit more as she runs a hand thoughtfully through the boy's hair, trying to part it and turn it into a bit more decent look.

The boy huffs a bit and swats a bit at his mom's hand with his uninjured hand, "But MoOOoooom... I wanna go play with 'em t'morrow. we're g'nna go play hide an' seek 'n' Tag too!"

Saienne is engaged pretty exclusively with the task of fixing the hole in the roof - so much so that she barely notices the expansion in their numbers with the addition of Tasha and Matty. "Oil," she says to herself, "Would be perfect. Keep the rain out of the wood for a little while more at least." When the ladder arrives, she props it against the wall and shakes it to test its stability. Hooking the hammer into one of her coat pockets and tipping the nails into another, she climbs upwards steadily, one of the boards tucked under her arm - swinging a little wildly, truth be told.

Tasha starts to go help Saienne and the miner with the roof of the hall, but is stopped by a young man in his mid teens. "Whoa...that's some fine tie qi (ironware) you're holdin', miss." he says, pointing to Tasha's omnipresent Colt. "Can I see?" he asks excitedly.

Lucinda starts gingerly wrapping the boy's wrist, "I'll tell you what. We'll rig you up a nice fancy sling, alright? Then you can pretend its your new cybornetic arm that's malfunctioning. And if your mom sees fit, hide and seek is safe. But I'd stay clear or anything that involves running. Or jumping. Or tumbling down the sides of mountains and such."

Matty's eyes look hurt as she's denied soup by the cook herself. "But Jose.. I just spent a good couple of hours out there in the freezin' cold," she says as if that's been some horrible experience. A lie obviously. She shakes her head and goes to hang up her coat on a peg next to Josephine, then checks the rifle, taking out the ammunition before hanging that up also. She takes off her knit hat and stuffs it in a pocket along with her gloves and goes to join Josephine. "Anything I can do to help?"

Kael Bowen laughs and swats at the mitt he's been hit with, "Right, right.. Sorry, I always forget 'bout that sorta ya know, the whole mask thing." He smiles a bit lopsidedly under the mask to Matty and gives a bit of a shrug, "So how's Sujiko doing? Haven't seen him in a couple days." His eyes glance down towards the small girl before returning to Matty.

The small girl gives a wide grin and lets out a giggle as Josephine cleans her face. She watches her intently as the bowl is taken from her and oddly enough, the grin seems to double in size as it's returned to her, full of soup no less! She takes it greedily and nods, "'Kay, Thanks! It's good soup!" She moves off, heading towards what looks like her family.

The man nods and then points at the hole, "Yer gonna fix that one? Might nice of ya Miss! Thank ya." He grabs onto the base of the ladder, helping hold it steady for her as he heads up towards the roof.

Josephine waves to Tasha from across the way, before turning a sympathetic smile (one might suppose, what with the mask and all) back to Matty. But her tone of voice is a quiet one as she speaks: "We're running out of clean bowls if you wouldn't mind rinsing a few? Not that there's all that much soup left at this point. These people probably haven't had a decent meal in..I dunno..weeks.. And I don't know when they will again if we can't get them some more foodstuffs."

The mother gives a bit of a chuckle down towards her son, shaking her head a little before looking up to Lucinda, nodding, "Alright. I'll be sure ta keep 'im from leapin' off any buildin's." She looks down towards her boy again, ruffling his hair a little before looking back up to Lucinda, "Thank you, miss."

"But moooom. You can't play tag without _runnin'_." The boy responds, a bit exasperated and then lets out another huffing sight that's cut a little short by a whimper from bumping his arm. He looks back down at it then back up to Lucinda with a grimace pulling at his tiny mouth, "Don't want no slings... 'm not a robot."

Saienne glances back down at the man - and then back up at the hole. "That's the one I was plannin' on fixin'," she says slowly. "Why? You got others pourin' snow in an' all? That ain't no good." She frowns, the crowsfeet around her eyes wrinkling deeply. "Well, we'll get this one weather proof first an' then take a look at anythin' else." She props the plank up on the flat of the wall and looks back down as the man grabs the ladder, and tips two fingers to her forehead in a salute. "Thank you," she says to him.

Tasha returns Jose's wave, doing her best to steadfastly ignore the kid's increasingly excited commentary. "Mie nar zhi huan, nan hai zi. (nothing but trouble there, boy)." she growls to him at length, causing his face to fall. "And a fine example you're settin' by brignin' it here." an older woman in a slightly stained and threadbare winter dress informs her hotly. "But _mom_...she's a _spacer!_" the boy protests.

Matty nods to Josephine and gives a look around the room, drawing in a deep breath through the paper of her mask. "Yeah. Doing dishes is something I'm pretty good at," she says and shakes her head a little, continuing in a lower voice. "We've got some foodstuffs on the Chaos Theory. Not enough to feed all that many people for too long, but.. Well, more than we need anyway, I reckon. I'll have a talk with Suj about donating it..." She lifts a shoulder at Kael and there's a worried look in her eyes, but she doesn't say anything outloud about it. "Oh, he's Sujiko. Totally wrapped up in that singularity thing, y'know?"


Lucinda purses her lips at that. "No, you're clearly too smart to be a robot." She concedes. "But this way you won't knock into as many things with a clunky ol' cast. Alright?" She digs out a small foil packet of pills that she hands over to the mother. "For pain. But make sure he has protein or something to eat with them. One half of a pill, twice a day. There's a little line down the center so you know where to cut it...If you hurry there's still soup."

"That would really be wonderful, Matty, if you could talk to him about that," Josephine says, with enthusiasm, stacking up used bowls and pouring a whole new line of cups of pure, clean water for the people to drink. "And, if you're really direly opposed to touching dirty dishes, then there are plenty of leaky roofs and runny noses and people who could just use someone to talk to.. I dunno.. whatever you feel like you want to do, I guess. Just..stay around a bit, if you will. I'm fond of your company. Hey Kael? KAEL? Are there any more rolls left? This bag is empty.. Could you check that one crate by your foot?"

Another man, one that looked to be healthy at one point, starts his way up to the soup line, he seemed to have been lagging behind by quite a bit. He lets out a bit of a cough as he makes his way up to the counter. He takes one of the bowls, his hand shakes a little and he brings up his other to help steady the bowl. His face is quite pale and he otherwise seems to have nervous twitches in his face. After a few more steps he drops the bowl, with a bit of a crash it hits the ground.

The man nods up to Sai and nods, "That's some mighty fine think there. Thank yas again." His mouth pulls up into a little smile before his gaze is drawn elsewhere, towards the man who just dropped his bowl, muttering, "Damn it George... just let go already..." His mouth pulled down in a deep frown.

The Mother nods and takes the pills, smiling a little and whispers, "Thank you.. I'll be sure to do that.. how long till he should be better? Few weeks? A couple months?" She shakes her head a little from side to side, seeming a little unsure.

"S'right.. Too smart 'n' strong ta be one. 'n' okay.." He responds, though he seems to sound some how as if he's lost in the end. He frowns a little up to his mom, obviously not liking the amount of times that are being specified.

Kael Bowen shakes his head and bends down, starting to go through the crate, "Uhhhhh.. yeah! Yeah, we got more Rolls." He pulls out a couple bags and then his left hand reaches back to the inside of the jacket as the bowl gives him a bit of a start. His hand pulls free though and he stands back up, a couple bags of rolls in hand.

Lucinda is confident that she set the boy's wrist correctly, and says "Four weeks." As she stands, ruffling the boys hair that his mother so carefully tried to part. "Be good." She adds, but her attention is drawn, a bit startled to the man who dropped the bowl and then to the man who tells this 'George' fellow to let go. She heads in that direction with crisp steps.

Saienne's work is not perfect - she's no expert at joinery, certainly - but neither is it shoddy. For an amateur job, it is straight and neat and starts the job of sealing up the hole. She holds the hammer at its natural balance point, letting the weight of the head fall onto the nail in an almost languid manner. The sharp sound of metal on metal rings through the hall as she tacks the first board to the first beam. As she starts to step back down the ladder to get the second board, another miner turns up with the tin of oil and a ragged brush. "Ah, marvellous," says Saienne as she picks up a screwdriver to pry the tin's lid off. "This'll make the wood last longer, I reckon." The sound of George dropping his bowl causes Sai turns around again. She turns her attention back to the miner nearest her. "Let go? What's he supposed to be lettin' go of? We ain't got too many more bowls."

Lucinda 's attention taken away from the make shift infirmary, her eyes travel across the town hall. Something registers in the back of her mind and her gaze shifts towards the open kitchen and Matty poised over the sink. Setting her fingers to her lips, she gives a shrill whistle. "MATTY!" She can't close the distance physically fast enough, so yelling will have to suffice. "GLOVES!"

Josephine tsks softly as she wipes her hands on her towel and goes over to the man who dropped his bowl, moving easily between the kitchen and the main room. "It's just a bowl. Don't anyone worry about it a moment longer," she says, patting the man's reassuringly. She is just picking up said bowl from the ground, before she hears Lu shouting and suddenly all the colour drains from /her/ face and she's back in the kitchen again in a half second or less. "Matty!"

Matty jumps at the sound of a whistle and then her name being called. A bowl clatters to the bottom of the sink, followed by the sound of breaking ceremics. "What?" she says and comes to the door with a frown on her forehead, water dripping from her hands. "Gloves? What for? I ain't afraid of gettin' my hands dirty.." She looks from Lucinda to Josephine and back over her shoulder at the sink where the water is still running to fill it. Then she looks at her wet hands and back toward the doctor. "Something wrong with the water?"

The little boy lets out a long sigh and fidgets a little, finally the mom coaxes him out of her lap and onto the cot before heading off towards the soup line to see about getting a bowl for her son. She frowns quite a bit at the commotion of the man and then the shouting.

The man by the name of George starts to push himself up onto his hands and knees before his right arm gives out again. He's laying in the growing puddle of soup, his limbs starting to grow very shaky as he starts to curl up into more of a fetal position.

"Nothin'..." The guy responds looking away from George and back up towards Sai, "We've... j'st had a lot 'f problems lately an' that's all.." He goes back to making sure the ladder stays steady and in place, every so often glancing back up towards Sai to see how it's all progressing.

Kael Bowen stands up and looks towards the man on the ground then back towards Matty after the shouting of it all. His expression could only be described as 'confusion'. He tilts his head a little and looks towards Matty again. He starts saying, "What? What's all this about? Matty looks quite fine 'n' all?" He looks between all of them.

The man by the name of George starts to lower himself down as if to collect the dish pieces but instead, crumples over onto the floor. He starts to push himself up onto his hands and knees before his right arm gives out again. He's laying in the growing puddle of soup, his limbs starting to grow very shaky as he starts to curl up into more of a fetal position.

The rest of the repair job goes fairly smoothly - a few crooked nails and overlapping sections of board - but nothing too terminal. The smell of the oil is strong in the area closest to the wall, and will be for some time yet. Saienne places the hammer, remaining nails and the screwdriver carefully back in the toolbox and picks up the oil and the ragged brush. "Reckon I'll head outside and slap a coat on while I can..." she says to the miners... Lucinda's shout, followed by Josephine's hurried return to the kitchen, gives her pause, however, and she takes one step towards the kitchen to investigate. The miner's voice turns her around again, though, and she nods at him: "Ain't that the honest truth."

Lucinda's wide stride draws her quickly across the floor and around the makeshift dinner line towards the sink. All the while, she's snapping on a fresh pair of latex gloves over fingers that were previously bare. "Kael! Get that man to a bed..." She obviously means poor George, but family has to come first. And Matty's a friend of the family, and thusly family so it counts. Another pack of medicine is produced from her bag, this time its a box with Alliance markings and warnings stamped all over its surface. She attempts to press it into Josephine's hands, confident the woman can tend to Matty and she can swing back out to the quickly deterioating George. "Have her take one of these, Jo." She quickly instructs. "If any mercury soaked into her skin, this will clear it from her system..but exposure was minimal."

The man holding the ladder nods as she comes back down and gives her a wide smile, "Thanks again, miss. Any help we can get is appreciated out here, 'specially by relatives 'f someone who lives here." He takes the ladder and starts after her, following her outside.

Kael Bowen quickly moves around the side of the counter and works on picking up the man. It takes him a bit as the guy is shaking pretty good. He nearly tumbles free of his grip from the spasms, but after a few seconds he manages to hoist the man enough to be able to carry him. His feet moving quickly over towards the bed, calling over towards Lu, "Alright Lu.. He'll be waitin' for ya." He manages quite well to carry the man over to the cot and set him in one.

Josephine's hands are trembling as she takes the box from Lucinda. "Thanks, Doc," she says weakly. Then she takes one of the cups of bottled water she had recently poured and dumps it over Matty's hands over the sink, to wash away the water that's still on her skin. "I'm so sorry, Matty.." she is murmuring, sounding very upset as she gives Matty a clean dishtowel to dry off her hands. "I'm sorry.. I didn't think.. I'm so sorry..." She keeps repeating that over and over again, which is unlike the usually calm and level-headed Jo.

Matty frowns at Lucinda, looks at the packet of medicine, then toward Josephine, giving a shake of her head. "Mercury? Christ, Lu, I'm from Saint Albans, I probably got more heavy metals in my system than anyone here," she says, but still takes the dishtowel from Josephine to wipe off her hands, after having allowed her to wash them off with bottled water. She's no expert on how mercury in particular is absorbed by the body, but she's not taking any chances. "How sick is this stuff gonna make me?" she asks Lucinda before the doctor tries to disappear, pointing to the meds she's given Josephine. "I can't afford t' be under the weather right now." She shakes her head at Josephine and smiles beneath the surgical mask, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "Don't worry 'bout it, Jose. Probably no harm done at all. I only had my hands in that water for a few seconds. Don't think that long enough for anything to happen."

"Ain't no bother," says Saienne politely to the miner. She regards the patched up hall, all clustered with working folk and their kin. "Reminds me of home, a little," she says, "Although with more snow." She perceives that the crisis in the kitchen is being deftly handled by both Lucinda and Josephine, and so steps neatly towards the door to oil the newly nailed boards from the outside. "Family -" she begins, looking around at the assembled crew "- is family, ain't it so? Warts an' all."

Lucinda's eyes crinkle again with a smile directed at Matty, but her hand rests on Josephine's shoulder for a moment as she seems more worse for the wear than the possibly poisoned woman. "Everything's shiny, Josephine. Matty'd be worse off if she licked an old rusty pipe." Meaning that its not even likely that Matty would be laid up at all. And with that, she's off to see to poor old George.

Read more...

[Log] Into the snow...

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Snowfield, Haven
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Aradia is crouched down with one knee on the ground as she pulls a hood up over Finnian's head, zippering him up all the way to under his chin after tucking a scarf wrapped around his neck under his coat. His arms are sticking out at odd angles and he looks like a fat, fluffy little duckling, moreso because his coat is bright yellow.

"I want to bring Maddie, too," Finnian says plaintively as he stands obediently being zippered up and bundled up. "She wants to meet mum," he says, "She told me."


Josephine seems to have borrowed a properly warm coat from somebody or other..probably Aradia again, because the thing actually fits her. She gets right to work doing a final check on the crates of food bound for the miners. They look pretty subdued for Josephine Care Packages, but for the occasional item wrapped in a brightly coloured piece of cloth. "Who wants to help carry something?" she asks the room, as if offering a priviledge.

"I told you that Maddie would get sick if she goes outside," Aradia says to Finnian as she checks the zipper on his bright yellow coat and then readjusts his pants tucked into his boots. "You have your pictures that we took though to show her, right?" she asks, looking up to Finnian from where she is crouched in front of him.

Saienne joins the cluster of people in the commons, well wrapped up herself in coat, scarf, gloves and some variation on the theme of hat - brimless and furry, this one. "I reckon I can help you there, Josephine," Saienne says, stepping forward and patting down her pockets as she does so.

"Little chilly out for Maddie, Ara is very much right little mister." Hatch adds as he finishes shouldering and strapping on his own gear. "You can pack a few more things on me Jo if they are small, if not well we can load em up soon enough. Or hide them all in Sai's pockets that works." He says with a bit of a smirk as he starts to wander about the room for last minute items.

Waddling a little as he tries to maneuver a hand into the pocket of his big puffy parka, Finnian nods from beneath the fur-lined hood as he holds out three bolts in his gloved hand. "I got these, too," he declares before they're shoved back into the pocket.

Kael Bowen pushes open the door into the Commons as he makes his way in. His arm is slipped about Lu's waist up until he steps in at which point the hand slowly pulls free, tracing along her waist before he turns to head towards the fridge. His scarf is about his neck, coat already on, though unbuttoned and his hat rests upon his head. His hands move towards his pockets then, pulling free the thing black leather gloves and starting pull them upon his hands. The Steyr is slung over his left shoulder.

Lucinda is, quite literally, dragging her medical satchel behind her as if the thing is too heavy to lift. Her parka is on, zipped all the way up and snapped to cover the lower half of her face, bloodshot brown eyes and a red nose the only thing visible in the little fur-rimmed circle that her hood forms. She mumbles something through the fabric. A vague 'Good morning'.

"Well unless you want to balance a crate on your head..." Josephine replies to Hatch before giving Saienne a warm smile. "Thanks, Sai. There's just these two big crates, for now. I can get one, if you don't mind lugging the other. I'm not sure which one is heavier, to be honest, but..we should be able to manage. I'll see what else we can spare once we have an estimation of how long we'll be staying ourselves.." Her borrowed coat has a poofy fur-lined hood but she doesn't see the point of looking silly just yet.

"Good," Aradia says with a smile to Finn as she sees the bolt in his hand. Straightening up from her crouch, already zippered up herself, she holds her hand out to the boy and says, "Let's go get you strapped into your seat and get going. Your mum's awful keen to see you again, Finn." With a nod to everyone else, she says, "Let's get moving."

"Well, I reckon I got enough of them," says Saienne to Hatch, about her pockets. "Keep findin' things in this gorram coat I'd long forgotten about." She frowns faintly. "Ain't entirely sure I remember puttin' them all there..." She grins at Hatch. "But I was thinkin' of carryin' things in more traditional manner - in my arms, an' all." She nods back to Josephine as the woman points out which of the crates need shifting. "Don't mind in the slightest," she says, evenly. "Might as well make myself useful, an' all."

Oddly subdued, for those who know Finnian at all, he bobs his head in a nod, clasping tightly to Aradia's hand and staying close to her side as he waddles alongside her.

"Arms.. over rated." Hatch comments as he drops down next to Finn to glance over his winter gear, offers a solid nod of acceptance. Honestly he figures that Ara has the whole thing covered, but such a bright yellow.. he had to look and see if the lil fellow had a duck on his chest. "We all packing onto the MULE or a shuttle, I honestly forget Ara?"

Kael Bowen opens the fridge and snags a couple water bottles before closing it. The water is slipped into the pockets the gloves came from as he makes his way back over towards Lucinda, offering, "Want me to carry that bag for you, Lu?" His head turns to look over the rest, hearing that they were about to be going, before turning to look back towards Lucinda.

Lucinda's eyes lift to Kael, the corners crinkle softly as if she's smiling underneath all that weather proofing. She mutters something through the thick fabric, giving him a quiet answer but she hefts the bag up on her shoulder in a physical response.

Josephine hefts whichever crate Sai is not already carrying onto her own shoulder with an obvious effort but also a sheer stubborness of will to make it so. "Mmrph," she says, expressively, concentrating as she falls into step behind the others.

Aradia leads Finnian and whoever else up into the shuttle bay where she straps him in, makes sure everyone else is strapped in and has everything they think they might possibly want or need for the trip and then sets off to make the short (by shuttle) trip to the mining camp.

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Miner's Camp, Haven
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The camp is small, a cluster of ramshackle buildings, crafted from whatever could be salvaged and utilized from this barren rock. There's a quiet air to the place as the shuttle lands. The settlement is blanketed in thick, white snow and wisps of smoke swirl up from chimneys with a soft, warm glow visible through chinks in the boarded over windows and cracks in doors. Paths have been cleared through the drifts between buildings, leaving churned bare and muddy earth. It is overall an odd contrast of peaceful serenity and dismal desolation.

Squirming in his seat as the shuttle touches down, Finnian fumbles with the buckles of his straps before they pop loose and he bounces, literally bounces out of his seat and scrambles for the hatch, waiting for someone to open it for him. He does the hopping dance of the over-excited or alternately 'really gotta pee' at the door.

Lucinda shuffles behind the rest, lagging slightly as she fumbles with her satchel again. She flips the flap over to rest on the outside, what was once disguised as a plain leather bag, now has a giant red cross on the brown background. Medic.

Unfastening herself from the pilot's chair, Aradia turns and rises up, shaking her head with a quiet chuckle as she plants her hands on the back of Finnian's shoulders and turns him around. "Hold yer horses, Finn," she says as she pulls up a surgical mask that's been strapped around his neck prior to the rest of his bundling, pulling her own up after that.

Hatch has, of course been sleeping the entire shuttle trip. He seems to think the sound of the engines in close confines is comforting..

Kael Bowen slows up a little so he's next to Lucinda, he gently runs a hand along her arm before he starts to futz with his mask. He pulls it up and secures it about his face as he looks about over the rest of the people. He shifts a little from one leg to the next and gives a bit of a chuckle at Finnian's 'dance'.

Saienne was sitting towards the shuttle's rear, her feet propped up on the crate she has assumed responsibility for. She leans forward and secures her own mask, following the lead of the others, before standing up - waiting until the doors open to pick the crate up and start moving.

Giving Aradia a look, Finnian submits to her fussings. "I don't got any horses, else I'd eat them," he says with his voice muffled a little by the mask.

Josephine had spent the shuttle trip in silent meditation, her wooden prayer beads in hand and her lips shaping a silent prayer. Immediately aware once they are landed, she wakes Hatch up with a fingerpoke in the ribs, handing him a surgical mask before she sees to her own. Fortunately, she found a trolley in the cargo bay to bring along for the crates of food, so there will be no more herculean efforts of heavy-lifting on her and Sai's behalf.

"Right, before they eat you," Aradia says with her hand back on Finnian's shoulder to turn him back around to face the hatch door. Clearly, the exchange of horse eating is not a new one between them. With a quiet hiss as she hits a button and turns the lever, the hatch door opens to the outside world and cold air starts to fill the cabin. "Hatch, you want to carry Finn down?" she asks with a glance up to him before she steps past Finn and out into the snow.

Hatch's eyes slip open at the nudge, well perhaps the second or third time. He waves off the surgucal mask and sticks with his suits rebreather mask, a little safer in his book as far as filtration. The big fella gets to his feet and presses his hands to the ceiling, stretching before he makes ready to move. "Was somebody talking about horses or something? Had the oddest little dream."

As has been proven time and again, Hatch is just too slow. As soon as Aradia is out of his way, Finnian leaps out of the shuttle, his boot hitting the snow and promptly sinking into it, his momentum carrying him forward to bellyflop into the snow drift.

Lucinda had her hood lowered so she could secure the elastic bands of her mask around her ears with a familiar 'snap'. She offers a head tilt to Kael, reaching up to pluck and straighten out the mask more securely over his mouth. "Helps if you breath through it, not around it." She jokes, before tugging up her hood once more.

Kael Bowen lets out a soft chuckles and quips back to Lucinda, "Yeah, but if I do that, then it would make sense." He softly bumps his elbow into her side and lets out another chuckle before starting towards the ramp. His brow furrows a little a he looks at the bellyflopped child, his head tilting to the side, "Ya know.. works a lot better to flail your arms and legs... otherwise the snow angel doesn't look right."

Saienne lets Josephine deal with wheeling the trolley through the shuttle - although she is close on hand if required to help, and will be at the hatch to lift it down also - and moves to the hatch to look out at the camp and the surrounding landscape - and down at Finnian in the snow. She doesn't say anything, but looks at the churned and muddy ground, and then back at the trolley's wheels with a slight frown.

Slow but deliberale at least, Hatch comes out of the back of the shuttle to scoop Finn out of the snow. "Bit of an adventure already eh Finni? Tunnels next time perhaps.. c'mere yah lil monkey." Not that his temperment can be told, but Hatch keeps the spirits as light as he can as he's got no idea what kind of condition things are going to be in down here aside from bets are piss poor. Sadly, it makes him think of back home on higgins...

Josephine sees that the trolley is properly (and safely) loaded with the crates, presumably with Saienne's assistance, since she's just not all that strong. She also gives Kael a pointed gaze, imploring him to be just a little more serious. Everyone else seems spared her expressive staring, although Saienne does get a number of grateful smiles as she waits until everyone is out of the way before she realises ...that a trolley just isn't going to work in this snow. "Oh, pie," she curses, with true feeling. "Sai, help."

At the 'thump' at her side as Finnian goes down in the snow, Aradia smirks from behind her mask, shaking her head as she watches him flail until Hatch scoops him up. "Shut the door on yer way out," she calls back to whoever makes it out last before she looks toward the settlement. Pointing toward a building with a red cross on it to one side, she says, "That's where Doctor Connor is," before she shifts to point toward the center of the settlement. "That there's the common house," she adds.

Hatch makes sure Finni is comfortable in his arms - hopefully. "Okay Ara. Jo, c'mere help me gross out Finn for a second before we head off this way."

Shaking like a dog in Hatch's arms to dislodge the snow stuck to him, Finnian smacks at Hatch's shoulder and says, "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He then starts to squirm to try and get out of his arms because well, Hatch is too slow.

Saienne frowns down at the snow. Her voice, when she speaks, is muffled somewhat by the mask. "Ain't much I can do... ain't like we got the time or equipment to give it skiis." A pause. "Or the skiis, for that matter." Saienne looks up to Josephine, squinting against the light glaring off the snow. "I reckon if we could get past the snow, we might be able to push along in the mud - although we'll be slippin' an slidin' all over the shop." She shakes her head. "Unless you want to head on up with Kael an' the Doctor an'll I'll..." But Kael has picked up one of the crates by then, and stumped out into the snow. "Ah, problem ain't a problem no more," she says, stooping to pick up the second crate and make her own way out into the snow.

"You're way more gross than me, Hatch," Josephine calls from inside the shuttle, because she's busy. She also looks pleased as anything that Kael has taken up one of the crates himself. "Chivalry is not dead," she announces. "And I think, between the three of us, girls, we should be able to manage the last of the crates," she says with a wink. "Maybe we should bring the trolley along as well. It may be useful once we find clearer ground, as per Sai's suggestion." With all that organised..two people holding the remaining crate and another person with the trolley, the last of the crew leave the shuttle..and presumably close the door behind them.

Hatch gives into Finni's demands in at least one respect, He settles the little fellow in a little more soldily and starts walking. "Show me the way captain." He says to Finn in this case not Ara, "And tell me how fast."

Aradia starts trudging through the snow and toward the camp, her shoulders hunched against the cold, even with the hood of her coat pulled up and her hands shoved into her pockets.

Finnian's heels dig into Hatch's side in that 'faster, pony, faster' gesture that kid's getting rides from humans even if they've never ridden a pony before tend to do instinctually. "That way!" he says, pointing to his home.

Lucinda manages to get the trolley, though its a bit of a struggle to get it where it needs to go. Wordlessly she heads towards the commons as the group splits.

Kael Bowen lets out a bit of a long sigh and starts off towards the Commons as well, crate in arms. His head turns back and forth to look over the various people and where they are off to, noting the building with the red cross before turning to look back towards the larger building that probably serves as a town hall as sorts. His mouth pulls into a bit of a grimace again under the mask and he continues his trudge.

Saienne follows along the line Kael and Lucinda have taken - towards the heart of the settlement. Her booted feet slip occasionally in the mud and snow, but she rights herself and manages not to follow Finnian's example of snow-angel creation.

Reaching the door she was heading for, Aradia raps briefly on it before she cracks it open and slips inside, careful not to allow too much heat out or cold in.

Josephine experiences a serious bonding moment with Saienne as they struggle through the snow with the crate. Jo isn't really made for this kind of hard labor, but what she lacks in strength and endurance, she makes up in sheer determination, following the lot of them to the rather sad looking mining camp.

Read more...

[Log] Larry the Rat

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Crew Commons, Grace O'Malley [Haven]
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Saienne is, not unusually, perched cross-legged on one of the benches around the dining table working from her battered silver PDA. Although Ronnie and Ymir - and everyone else - have been working double time to restore heat and light to the Grace, she obviously feels something of a chill still as she is wrapped up in her heavy coat and woolen scarf. The gloves she wears are fingerless, allowing her to both tap away at the PDA and also write in a little leatherbound book also open on the table. She hums to herself as she works, and occasionally one of her long-fingered hands comes up to scritch absently at the back of her head.


Stumbling engaged. Bishop slips into the common area looking completely wiped out from the afore mentioned double shifts that folks have been on trying to patch up the numerous wiring jobs that got blown out. The stumble however is different as when Bishop arrives, one foot catches on the other and it's a true stumble which results in a loud and heavy thud. The end of it all is Bishop, laying face first on the floor after having skidded a few feet and managing to mumble out nearly incoherently: "Ow...."

Walking in from the aft, Aradia's either adjusted to the cooler climes inside the ship since she's got no more or less on than normal. Glancing back to Lucinda behind her with a faint smile, she turns back as she steps into the commons just in time to see Bishop's spectacular faceplant. Crossing over to the coffee urn, she says wryly, "I do discourage excessive drinking first thing in the morning, Bishop." Nodding toward Saienne with a smile, she says, "Morning, Sai."

Lucinda shifts to look past Aradia, whom she's following into the Commons. "Please don't break anything, Bishop. Like..your face." She pauses in her pursuit of coffee to look to the co-pilot in concern. Not so much concern, however, that would drive her to, ya know, help the man up.

Saienne's attention cannot help but be diverted from the concentrated tapping and scribbling she was engaged in. She looks up from the work, and at first - her gaze resting at waist-height - she sees nothing untoward. The unmistakable 'Ow' sound, however, causes her to frown, crowsfeet wrinkling. She pushes herself up from her seat a little so that she can peer over the bulk of the table to the floor of the commons beyond. And there is Bishop, sprawled on the floor and mumbling. Saienne stares for a moment, and then says, dryly: "Well, ain't you the master of entrances, an' all?" A pause, and she sets her pen down on the table. "If it ain't appearin' trouserless it's fallin' over your own gorram feet." She shakes her head and steps out from behind the table. Taking the couple of paces over towards the fallen form - just as the Captain and the Doctor enter - she bends down and asks the pilot: "You all right? Ain't broken nothin'?" Her tone is slightly more sympathetic than before. To Aradia's greeting, she cranes her neck to look sideways towards the galley. "Mornin' Captain, mornin' Doctor," comes the even reply.

"Naw, I alright." Bishop says with a grumble as he rolls over to his back. "And I ain' been drinkin' cap'n. Just ain' been gettin' no shut eye." But instead of getting up off the cold deck, Bishop just lays there facing the ceiling.

Kael Bowen starts his way in from the aft as well, a bit behind them all. He's wearing gloves which he's pulling off. Some residue of snow starting to melt upon the brim of his hat. It looks like he might've been buried in the stuff by the look of it. His Jacket has little water droplets slowly running off of it, not many, just a drop here and there behind him. His boots are in much the same condition. His scarf is about his face currently, it's wrapped about his head over his forehead ending right below his eyebrows. It picks up again right under his eyes and continues down to his neck, creating a sort of mask look. His boots don't fall as heavily as they normally do as his eyes slip over the group starting to develop in the Commons.

Filling one mug, she passes it off to the doctor before she fills another one and takes a sip from it, walking back out into the commons as she says to Bishop, "I'd offer you a hand but I've only got one working and it's currently performing a very important duty. Lifting her mug aloft, she smirks a little and takes a seat at the dining room table across from Saienne. Relieving the mug of its duty momentarily, she takes her PDA out and places it in front of her, typing something up on it. One of those kids who grew up in the text messaging era perhaps, she does it one handed and in short order before she hits one last button and closes it down again, returning to her coffee.

Lucinda wraps both her hands around the mug, its the little things that anchor you to the here and now. "Thanks, Captain." Though the words hold more weight than a simple cup of coffee could surely warrant. Her PDA makes a little chime from her pocket, but she doesn't need to retrieve it to know what its in reference to.

Saienne straightens up, satisfied Bishop hasn't done himself - or the deck, for that matter - too much damage. She turns to Aradia. "Don't reckon he's been drinkin'. Breath smells interestin' an all, but it surely ain't got the whiff of tonic." she says, "Just workin' too hard an' too late." She looks back down at Bishop's prone form. "Although I reckon I can understand why folk might make that assessment an' all." She shakes her head again, a little wearily, and lopes back over to the dining table and her assembled bits and pieces. Kael's entrance causes her to look over her shoulder, and she grins crookedly at the man. "An' here's another one makin' an entrance." She looks him up and down. "Must be plumb fong luh to have ventured outside, Kael, duty or no." Her own PDA makes its characteristic burbling noise, echoing Lucinda's, but she doesn't rush to check it.

Josephine seems to be morphing into a dark-skinned, short-haired Buddhist version of Aradia, what with her borrowing all of the Captain's clothing and now even wielding her old PDA. She combs her fingers through her hair as she steps into the commons, doing a quick glance around to make sure that nobody is lying on the floor starving to death.

Bishop well, apparently isn't carrying a PDA because nothing beeps on him. Instead he narrows his eyes at Saienne for a moment before just letting them slide closed, apparently deciding the floor is good as place as any to take him a nap.

"It's not too bad. It's all 'bout settin' up a the right spot." responds Kael, a tad muffled through the scarf. He shoves the gloves into the pocket of his jacket as he continues. "If you dig it too deep, you loose too much viability. Too shallow, you don't keep in any heat." His right hand then reaches up and pulls off his hat, smacking it against the side of his leg to knock off the rest of the snow. His left hand, meanwhile, reaches up and pulls down the scarf off his head to encircle his neck loosely. His mouth is pulls into a bit of a smirk as he starts his way towards the galley. His feet thump across rugs splayed out upon the floor.

"Morning Jo, Kael," Aradia says to the new arrivals with a smile. Bringing her mug up for a long sip from it, she leans forward in her seat on the bench to look across the table at the papers scattered there. "Whatcha working on there?" she asks Saienne as her gaze lifts up to the woman, her head tilting a little.

Lucinda is standing near the coffee urn, looking a might out of place and down right fidgety. Good thing she has more caffeine. She offers a bit of a smile to Josephine, a slightly brighter one to Kael, but other than that, she's not doing anything worth mentioning.

"Good morning, Captain, everyone," Josephine replies with a warm smile, not missing a beat before she is tucking a blanket around Bishop and she'll even try to impose a pillow beneath his head if he doesn't protest too much. "Sweet dreams," she wishes the randomly napping pilot.

Bishop manages a smile up at Josie as she gets him a blanket and a pillow. "Only if you're there." Whoa, what? That's definately a line from the nearly completely passed out pilot.

"Well Kael," begins Saienne, "As long as it keeps you happy, an' all, I ain't goin' to complain." She then tilts her PDA towards the captain. Displayed on the screen is a long list of names, contact details and associated notes. "Just as I was tellin' Josephine the other day - almost gettin' this thing fried -" she taps at the PDA delicately "- made me realise how fragile my whole operation is." She flips a few pages in the little book over. "Been copyin' everythin' out on paper just in case." She grins. "My aunt Loretta always said paper was best, an ain't it true that folk are still readin' books centuries an' centuries after they were first printed an' bound?" There is a pause, and she adds: "Also lookin' to see what my next job might be - when we get the opportunity, of course. I know we got other things to worry about first, an' all, an' I got that article to get to Xiao-Chen." A shrug, a lop-sided smile that is at once apologetic and slightly resigned. "Habit, I expect." She breaks off then and peers down at the terrible handwriting in the little book. "Of course, it helps if you're actually able to read what you've written..." She looks up at Josephine's greeting: "Mornin' Josephine."

"Mornin' Ara." Kael says, nodding in her direction. He shifts his shoulders a little, the rifle sling over his right shoulder slipping a bit closer to his neck. His eyes settle upon Lucinda then and the smile softens substantially. His hands don't remain motionless though, they start working on his jacket, unbuttoning the five of them, starting with his neck and working his way down. He passes around behind Lu and reaches out to snag a tin coffee cup, whispering something gently to Lu, the smile still playing across his lips. Kael's eyes flick over to Josephine then and he calls out to her, "Mornin', Jose."

"Ain't that the truth of it," Aradia says to Saienne with a chuckle, asking, "Couldn't you print it out from what you got there? Would save you a lot of writing by hand." Taking another sip from her coffee, she turns and swings her legs over the bench to rise to her feet, heading back toward the galley. Refilling her mug on the way, she says to Jo, "The doc has some news for you about yer new friend," before she continues on in and pulls a cupboard open to grab down a box of multi-colored, sugar filled cereal. Tucking it under her arm, she scoops out a handful and tips her head back to pour at least half of that into her mouth, munching on the crunchy sugary sweet goodness.

Josephine ruffles Bishop's hair on her way to get the mop to clean up all of the snowpuddles left about by Kael. "Hey Kael, Hi Sai," she says, already busily at work making sure nobody slips and that the floor is nice and clean. Especially if people are going to be sleeping upon it on occasion. She looks up when the captain address her. "Oh? The unnamed rat?" She turns an inquiring, curious gaze to the doctor.

Lucinda smiles faintly, her head turned back towards Kael as she murmurs something, but her attention aims back at Josephine. "Sneakers. Of course, that's just the name I put on his file. I ran a sample of his blood, and other than being dehydrated and a bit malnurished, he's clean."

"Ain't got a printer," says Saienne, simply. "An' the nice thing about havin' it in a little book is that I can add to it an' it's all bound up an' neat. Ain't goin' to have bits of paper flyin' all over the shop..." She begins to gather up the bits and pieces now, though, turning off the PDA - and saving the new mail for later - and slipping it and book into one of her many pockets. She sits herself back down on the bench by the dining table and turns to face the assembled crowd, listening.

Kael Bowen reaches back with his left hand as his right sets the tin cup down on the counter. He pushes the jacket back around his hip as he reaches for and pulls forth his PDA. It hadn't made a beeping noise, but it seemed to have alerted him some how. He taps the screen with his thumb, eyes looking towards the screen as his right hand gropes about a little before finding the handle of the coffee urn. He starts to pull it towards him, taking a quick glance to measure the aim and pours the coffee into his cup. He turns the screen of his PDA towards Lu so she can read it next. A gentle murmur towards Lu as he pulls the urn away, setting it back down. His eyes pull up then, towards Jose, the corner of his mouth pulling up a bit. "Thanks, Jose.. I would've gotten to it though, promise." He tells her.

Finishing off the handful of cereal, Aradia grabs a bowl and pours more out into it. Looking from her mug to the bowl and back again, she considers a moment before she takes up the container of powdered creamer and dumps a ridiculous amount into her mug. The Captain putting cream in her coffee? How horribly...wrong. Humming quietly to herself as she fetches a spoon from a drawer, she stirs the powdery stuff into her coffee and then promptly dumps the contents of the mug over her cereal. Bowl in hand with the spoon now sticking out of it, she retreats from the galley before Josephine can admonish her for her creative culinary practices and resumes her seat at the table across from Saienne. "So what are you going to call him?" calls back to Josephine before shovelling a heaped spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Josephine's face lights up happily. "Oh! Thank you, Lu!" she exclaims, looking truly pleased at this news. She even stops tidying for a moment. "Where is he? And I'm afraid that 'Sneakers' is a ridiculous name. I was thinking of calling him Singularity.. Larry, for short," she explains to Aradia with a grin, even being so kind as to ignore whatever disgusting mess the Captain is making of her breakfast. "Guaranteed to make you smirk, I realise. Do you have any other suggestions maybe?" She goes back to cleaning up Kael's mess with renewed vigor, anxious to go visit Larry now that he's got a clean bill of health. "No worries, Kael. I don't mind at all." Of course, she doesn't really look at him when she speaks. But that could be because she's mopping the floor.

Lucinda eyes scan the screen, but she doesn't have to read too indepth to know what it says. Her hand lifts for a moment, briefly resting on Kael's cheek. Muttering something along the lines of, 'Its a family affair,' before her hand drops back to join the other in craddling her mug. "Sneakers on account of the fact that's what it sounds like when he squeaks. A wet pair of sneakers. But this is why I don't have pets or children. I'd name them something ridiculous." She takes her coffee, then heading towards a couch.

"Well.. I got something warm to drink. Already had something to eat earlier, why don't we go visit him, Jose?" Kael smiles a little, it looks a bit on the hopeful side, but it's a tad muted. His gaze shifts towards Lucinda then, and his smile slips into more of a caring one, leaning his head slightly into her hand. His left hand thumbs a switch on the PDA and then moves back behind him. He pushes the coat up and behind his hip again, seeming to secure it in place before pulling his hand free. The right hand picks up the coffee then and his gaze returns to Jose, looking to her curiously.

Wrinkling her nose up, Aradia goes from chewing with gusto to chewing much more slowly as she gets a very thoughtful look on her face. Swallowing with some effort, she gets up and heads back into the galley, retrieving the box of cereal, the creamer and some sugar. She sits back down and sprinkles a liberal serving of the latter two over the contents of the bowl before grabbing another handful of cereal out of the box to add to the bowl. Stirring it all up, she scoops another spoonful into her mouth, looking much more satisfied this time as she digs into her well balanced and nutrititious breakfast.

"Alright Kael," Josephine says then, perhaps surprisingly. "If the Captain doesn't need either of us for anything else." She casts a deferential gaze of inquiry to the woman eating an alarmingly irresponsible breakfast.

Lucinda curls her legs up on the couch next to her, mindful however to keep her boots off the upholstery. "He's still down in Med bay. There's a bit of cheese in a foil pack at the bottom of the plasma cooler, if you're so inclined..."

With usual foot steps accompanying him, Kael makes his way around behind Lucinda. He gives Lu another sort of gentle smile and leans close, whispering something in her ear. His hands switch, taking the coffee in the left as his right came up and gently rubs her shoulder between neck and blade. His eyes then look over towards Aradia, seeming intent on her answer, saying to the Aradia, "Well, Captain, anything in particular you need of us?"

"Mromph" Aradia says around a mouthful of cereal as she looks toward Josephine and Kael, waving them off with the spoon in hand. Hopefully Josephine is far enough off not to see the droplets of coffee flavored milk that go flying from the spoon when she does so.

Josephine touches her hand to her heart. "Oh, how I admire your eloquence, my noble Captain," she poetically proclaims before putting her mop aside and heading down to the medbay, presumably with Kael not so very far behind.

Lucinda nods to Kael's words, just a slight bob of her head that repeats twice. Her attention returns to her coffee mug as if the ripples in the dark brown liquid provide ample entertainent.

Kael is indeed not far behind. He stands back up straight shifting the rifle about again and then starts off towards the aft after Jose. His head turns to the side, looking a bit over his shoulder at Ara, his mouth pulling into a grin, "I think I gotta agree with her on that on, Cap.. That's some poetry in motion there.." The sound of his feet thunking on the decking recedes as he makes his way out.

Aradia swallows the mouthful of food and then gets poetic in ways that would make a hardened spacer 'n the naughtiest of space pirates blush to hear such eloquence. Smirking, as she turns from the retreating backs of the duo, she looks over to Lucinda and asks, "You going to eat anything?" before returning to the consumption of her caffeinated sugar feast.

Lucinda regards Aradia over the rim of her mug. "'fraid I'm not hungry, Captain." She perches the cup on the arm of the couch. "And is now a good time to lecture you on the high sugar content of your breakfast or should I wait until your teeth rot out?" She chides, an attempt at good natured banter.

"My husband will get me new ones," Aradia says confidentally, grinning as she adds, "He wouldn't want a toothless ol' hag for a wife now, would he?"

Lucinda can't help but smirk at that. "Well there are -some- advantages to having a toothless wife, no?"

"I only use my teeth when he asks me nicely," Aradia quips in return before shovelling in another mouthful of her tooth-rotting delicious breakfast.

Lucinda laughs, actually full out laughs. Put it in the ship's logs that on this day, September 19, 2520 Dr. Lucinda Delray laughed. Okay, maybe its not that monumentous. "I.." She wipes at her eyes, moisture gathering on her bottom lashes. "..I have nothing to add to that."

Glancing sidelong in Lucinda's direction, Aradia grins, her attention turning back to her cereal as the grin softens into a faint smile at the sound of the doctor's laughter. When she comments on her lack of a response, the grin returns to Aradia's lips as she says evenly, "That's what he says too."

Lucinda leans forward a bit to set the coffee mug down on the table aptly named for just that purpose. "Now that's just wrong, Aradia." She gives a few more errant chuckles before stretching out on the couch. The laughter dies off as she eyes drift up to the ceiling panels. "Gods, I'm so tired."

"Oh, never wrong," Aradia says as the grin turns back into a smile. "The things we do for love," she adds before nodding in the doctor's direction. "Grab that blanket on the back of the couch there and have yourself a nap. I'll make sure no one draws a moustache on you or anything while you're out."

Lucinda stiffles a yawn with the back of her hand. "Think we could pull it off before Josephine comes back up here and spanks us both like a red-headed step child?"

"Pfft," Aradia says, "She'd have to catch us first." With a sly smile, shesays, "In the act, of course." Getting up off the bench, she carries her bowlover to the sink to wash it. Someone really should prevent the captain fromconsuming mass quantities of caffeine and sugar and then leaving her to herown devices.

Especially when she's being spurred on by a doctor looking for distraction."Playing with feral rodents could be very time consuming. Besides, we won't need more than ten minutes tops to give Bishop a proper make-over." Lu smiles,even as her eyes drift partway shut.

"I do believe there's probably a marker in one of these drawers here," Aradiasays after rinsing her bowl out and heading for that all purpose drawer ofjunk and miscellaneous drawers that every living habitat in every far flungcorner of the 'Verse has at least one of. Poking around for a few moments, shecomes up triumphant with a marker in hand. "Ah hah! Here we go," she exclaims.

Lucinda curls a hand in the blanket, drawing it up to her chin. "So what do you think is in order? One of those nice pencil thin mustaches? One that curls at the end comically. Oooh. Or just a little 'soul patch' with eyebrow enhancements to match?"

Leaning back against the counter, and in the process shutting the drawer with her backside, Aradia taps the marker against her lips in thought as she studies the canvas lying prone on the floor. "Or a big bushy one, with a beard 'n eyebrows to match?"

Saienne has been working quietly all the while Lucinda and Aradia's conversation has been winding from pillar to post, her pen scritching on paper dryly. Like insects. She looks up from her jotting, and says: "Pencil moustache'd do it, I reckon." She glances across to the slumbering pilot. "Suit him."

Lucinda wiggles slightly, using the toe of one boot to leverage against the heel of the other, popping it off as it falls to the floor with a muted thunk. "We could go so far as to add some embarrasing word scratched backwards on his forehead so he'll see it when he looks in the mirror."

Looking toward Saienne with a small grin, Aradia says, "He might like it enough that he either never washes his face or actually grows a real one." Pushing off from the counter to wander back out into the commons with the marker in hand, she arches a brow at Lucinda's suggestion and asks, "What word do ye reckon he'd like enough that he'd never wash it off or alternately get it tattooed into his forehead?"

"Oh good gorram don't you joke about it," Saienne says, wagging her pen towards Aradia. "Sublimial suggestions an' all that." She swivels around on the bench. "Never know what he might decide on if we say the wrong things." She grins crookedly. "An' that might end up a sight more alarmin' than those boxer shorts..."

Lucinda ponders this, "Stud? Ooh. Fly boy!" She lets her head lull to the side, one eye cracking open to see if Aradia has pounced upon the poor sleeping Bishop.

"My, I never took you to have such delicate sensibilities Sai," Aradia says to the woman, her lips curving into an impish grin. "At least he was wearing boxers," she says as her gaze turns from Sai back to the poor, unsuspecting victim that she's yet to pounce upon. "Besides, you'd only have to worry about the moustache if you were getting all kissy kissy with him. They tickle."

"Delicate I ain't," replies Saienne. "Merely fearful." She leans back against the table, the pen held losely between her fingers and nods. "Oh, indeed, Captain, an' thank the heavens for small mercies." She grimaces slightly at the images Ara has implanted in her mind. "Kissy kissy with Bishop?" She glances down at the floor - at the intended victim. "I think I'd rather kiss the beagle."

Lucinda smirks slightly, reaching to grab at her mug of coffee that has most likely gone cold. "That can be arranged. Or we have a lovely new rat onboard.."

"Ewww," Aradia says as her nose wrinkles up. "They get all drooly 'n...err yeah, maybe you would be better off kissing one of the beagles." Shrugging, she puts one hand on her hip, weight shifting as she considers her canvas and the nature of the work of art to be sharpied onto it.

"Don't you go rushin' on my account," says Saienne to Lucinda. "An'... a rat." A pause, as she considers. "May I ask why? An' where from? An'... why again?"

Lucinda sips her coffee, her nose wrinkling up at the cold liquid but she downs it anyways. "Josephine's new pet that they found on the latest expedition. As long as its only one rat. One rat can't breed."

"What she said," Aradia says after the doctor in response to Saienne's question. "So you're sure on the pencil moustache?" she asks, looking between both of them and then adding, "'n Fly Boy is the best you can come up with?"

"I swear they spawn," says Saienne, darkly. "But I expect I am somewhat biased against them. I reckon that's only natural when your major experience of rats is findin' they've been muchin' their way through the winter grain store for three months an' no one's noticed." She peers down at Bishop. "Pencil moustache is ridiculous - which is perfect." And then glances up at Aradia. "An' I'm sure we could come up with worse than fly boy, but I ain't inclined to dirty the air in such a manner." A pause, and a crooked grin. "I'm sure you two won't have such a problem." She gathers up her book again, and the other bits and pieces, and stands up. "Y'all enjoy yourselves..." she says, stepping towards her quarters.

Read more...

[Log]

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Crew Commons, Grace O'Malley [Haven]
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Wandering up into the commons as Aradia starts to shrug off her coat at last,wincing a little as she tugs it down over her strapped up arm. "You didn't get to hear it snap a second time," Aradia says mischievously to Josephine. "Of course I'm probably the only one that did over the gunfire 'n roaring bear."Tossing the coat over the back of the armchair, she continues on to take aseat on the bench at the table. With this much of a crowd, best to sit wherethere's seating enough for everyone.


Tasha stretches and shivers the worst of the cold from her bones as she finds a place at the table where she can see everyone without making her presence too much of a big deal. "So, Captain Sujiko." she says, wincing as she realizes her earlier faux pas with the man. Hard to play dead when you're waving at friends like an idiot. "How much parts did ya bring us?"

Matty nods to Josephine, still looking concerned, but lets her go to give Sujiko /his/ hug, while she turns to Tasha, giving her a crooked smile. "Nice t' meet you, Miss Rodimtsev," she says and lets out a little chuckle, deciding to just play along. "I'm Madison Radcliffe, XO of the Chaos Theory." She is, of course, saying all this while making her way through the ship to the commons with everyone else. Overhearing Aradia's last comment, she turns and blinks at the Captain. "Gunfire.. Bear? What th' hell've y'all been up t' out 'ere?"

Sujiko follows Aradia into the commons, stepping off to the side to not be in the way of others. He blinks a few times at the captain's comments. Hearing Matty take the words out of his mouth, he adds "sheesh, you guys been havin' an' interestin' few weeks, ain't ya?" He shrugs off his coat, laying it over the back of one of the couches before finding himself a place out of the way to stand, wanting to make sure everyone else gets a seat before he takes one himself. He turns to Tasha. "Dunno specifics, Sink... err, cap'n Fist picked 'em up, there's a few crates," he says with a light shrug. Didn't check inventory specifically.

Lucinda steps through the hatch into the Commons, moving around to let everyone shuffle in. "Four pins. Four I had to put into Aradia's arm. Wait..I thought the ship's name was the Salvation?" She asks the question lightly, trying to follow the conversation, though her attention is sidelong on Kael.

Sliding from the front of the ship is Bishop. Despite what his desc may say there is something very uniquely missing from the man. That being pants. "Cap'n, you're back. We have a slight problem, I ran out of rope to keep some of the panels in place so I had to use my pants and... we have company." The last is said as the man looks up at the folks that are not part of the crew, an impish smile and sheepish wave being directed towards everyone. - Hee, Bishop. Nicely unexpected and good point to riff off in the scene. Thank you. :)

"Captain? XO?" Aradia says with a quirk of her brow as she looks to Lucinda with the question asked and then nods, looking back between Sujiko and Matty again. "Sounds like we ain't the only ones who've had an interesting few weeks she says with a faint smile, leaning forward to prop her elbows, the left one a little more carefully than the right. While she was about to ask for their story, her pantsless pilot gets her attention (is he a boxers, brief or swinging in the wind man is the question EVERYONE is thinking, of course). "Do you want more rope or another pair of pants?" she asks rather calmly.

"I'm so confused," Josephine sighs, but decides she'd better just listen to everyone else's conversation for a moment while she goes to check on the status of the coffee urn and the coffee and to see whether or not they have enough mugs for everyone..plus one more person. She blinks at Bishop. "Well, if that isn't an interesting fashion statement... I have a dress you could borrow, if you like," she offers kindly. And she seems sincere.

Tasha does her best to ignore the pant less Bishop, though she can't help but chuckle a little at the man's antics. God knows, the mood hereabouts sure could use the lift. "Confused....Lord, Jose, but you ain't kidding." she sighs, settling into her sjieat. "So I take it you've just got your own boat, Captain?" she asks Sujiko with a knowing grin.

Matty shrugs out of her jacket as she goes to find a seat, blinking quietly Bishop, though she doesn't comment on his lack of pants. "Uh, yeah. Interesting might be the word," she says and tosses her jacket over the back of a chair which she then sits herself into, waving toward Sujiko with a nod. "I reckon Suj better do the explanin'."

;'s head pokes round from the door to the portside quarters as the noise in the crew commons increases. "Good gorram," she says, "We havin' ourselves a party? Ain't hardly the time for..." Then she sees the unexpected faces. "Well, mayhap this is the time for it after all." She steps fully out into the commons now (fully clothed and everything) and saunters over towards the galley, weaving between people to get there.

Sujiko regards Bishop with an amused sort of look before turning back to Aradia and the others asking him about his new command. "Yep, Th' Chaos Theory," he says proudly, perhaps an interesting relation to the sort of higher-dimentional physics going on elsewhere on this planet. That's movie-quality foreshadowing right there. "Cap'n weren't well at all... couldn't even move really," he says for the benefit of those who haven't heard this story. "Got 'im to a hospital... he ain't fit t' command no ships, so I took over," he explains, nodding in Matty's direction. "Got ourselves some crew, took a few runs o' cargo.." he pauses, thinking back. "Eh, other'n get'n the ship 's been mostly uneventful..." he says, glancing to Matty. 'Mostly' might be the operative word here..

Boxers. Duh. Little pink heart ones in fact splashed across a dark blue background. Looking to Aradia, Bishop blinks and fights down the reddening blush of his cheeks. "Either one Captain, rope, pants... I think it's starting to become all the same." He pauses then looks to Josephine when she offers a dress, looks down at himself, and shrugs, "I'm not sure it'd fit to well, but if it would set off my eyes properly and not make my ankles look fat..." Absent mindedly, Bishop reaches back and scratches his lower... back. Really. That's what he's scratching.

Lucinda resists the urge to give a wolf-whistle to Bishop, instead moving around everyone else to sink into one of the armchairs looking half way to downright weary. More or less staying out of the way as she listens to conversation.

Josephine has a whole bunch of unmatched enamel cups lined up on the counter by this time, enough for everyone. Now they just have to wait for the coffee to finish brewing. She smiles warmly to Saienne, but is distracted by Suji's story. "Wow..so.. Congratulations, Captain Tokari," she says with her gentle smile. "This is a good change," she decides. "Okay. So. Does everyone here know everyone else? Or do I need to do some industrial-sized introducing? Bishop, you sir are going to wash your hands right now." Very little escapes her watchful gaze.

"There should be rope in a crate up in the fore starboard corner o' the catwalks," Aradia says with a smirk as she shakes her head to the pilot and then adds, "As for pants, I hope you've got spare. I'm not sure you'd fit into mine anymore than you'd fit into Jo's dress." As more people spill out into the commons, she realizes that it's highly unlikely that most people don't know who's who and sets to a brief round table introduction, gesturing to each person in turn. "Folks, this is Sujiko 'n Madison. Suji 'n Matty, you already know Jo 'n Tasha. This here's Kael, Saienne, Bishop 'n Lucinda."

Kael Bowen slowly makes his way in the commons from the Aft corridor. His eyes are closed for the moment and his hat and jacket tucked under his right arm. His feet make their usual 'thunk' as they hit metal followed by the slightly softer 'thud' as they meet rug. His eyes opened quickly and with a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth he looks about before turning right and making a beeline towards the galley.

Tasha gives a little wave to all as she's introduced, nodding to the other members of the Grace's company that she hasn't met yet. Odd how that works, but it seems to somehow. Different sleep schedules and the like.

Matty is going through a pocket of her trousers, finding a packet of peanuts, giving a nod here and there in response to Sujiko's explanation. "Yeah.. Mostly uneventful," she repeats and rips the peanut packet open with a tearing noise. She glances around at a crowd that seems to be growing by the second, then shakes out a few peanuts to start popping them in her mouth, nodding to each of the people as they're introduced. A few of the faces and names are known to her, another few aren't, but everyone gets a nod of greeting, including Aradia and Josephine. Of course, there's a face missing, which she /knows/ ought to be here.. - Gloriously expressive and nicely evocative - as I have come to expect from Matty through our few encounters.

Saienne lifts her hand to her forhead in a lazy salute aimed as a greeting at Josephine. She doesn't speak either, but turns to lean on the counter and look out at the crowded commons - at which point she spies Bishop's trouserless figure. "Good gorram," she says again, "Ain't you got no shame? We got visitors an' everythin'!" She shakes her head, but the outburst is tempered by a crooked grin. "Legs ain't bad, mind." A pause. "Seen worse." As Ara introduces everyone, Sai nods a pleasant greeting to those she doesn't know.

Sujiko nods to the three (Kael, Saienne, and Bishop in no particular order) he doesn't know. "Aye, I've met Lu," he notes, referring to the earlier time on Persephone... Matty elbowed him in the stomach if he's not mistaken. "Sheesh, ya' got the whole gorram crew here on our account?" he wonders, but quickly realizes there is, indeed, a Hatch missing. "Nice t' meet y'all," he adds with a friendly wave to wherever most of the new aquaintences seem to be gathered.

Bishop looks at Josie for a moment then with an upbeat grin, walks over to actually wash his hands, only giving Saiene a quirked eyebrow. "Well we have company but no one told me we'd have company so I can't really be held overly accountable for the situation of greeting company in my state." Shaking the water from his hands he stretches and nods towards the folks when they get assigned names by Aradia. To Sujiko, Bishop pipes in. "I hope they're here for you, because if they're here to see me then this situation is even more depressing than we thought."

Lucinda looks over to Sujiko, settling down in the cushy chair, "We're a little pressed for good news of late. Guess we're drawn to it like moths to a flame." As Kael rejoins the group, she seems to keep a watchful eye on him.

Josephine narrows her eyes slightly at Kael as he approaches. She looks worried for a moment, but she's not the sort to make a scene. Instead she hugs his arm briefly. "You come to help me with the zillion mugs of coffee?" she says, smiling endearingly to the man. "And now you'll finally get to really meet Matty. Here..in the middle of a snow field. On Haven. Kind of wierd, that, but we can work with it." She pokes about in the cooler. "Oh dear. No more milk or cream or anything. We'll have to make do with the alarmingly tasty synthetic powered stuff. Sai, I don't suppose you know where that is? And even if you don't, would you mind poking around in the cabinets a bit?"

Tasha frowns a little for a moment, thinking of one rather significant 'someone' in her life who isn't here for this convivial little gathering. "Yeah, guess that's about the long and the short of it, Lu." she replies, nodding and stretching a little. "Just make mine black, if'n ya would please, Jose." she calls. "Just about all my 'get up and go' done gone up and went."

Matty pops peanuts into her mouth, leaning back in her chair and letting a grimace cross her face at Lucinda's words about good news. "Ain't all good news..." she mumbles, more to herself as she tosses a glance toward Sujiko, then continues eating her peanuts, glancing up toward Josephine and Kael. "Yeah. I'll take mine black too, thanks, Jose."

Kael Bowen reaches up, tossing a bit of a wave towards Matty and Sujiko, "Nice to meet ya two.. I've h-heard about you through Jose." He turns his gaze towards Jose then, wrapping her in a quickly family like hug before nodding, "S-Sure, Jose. How many mugs do we have to get?" His mouth tries to pull into a bit more of a grin, but falls a bit short at a smile.

"Well I'm sure everyone what's been working can afford to take a break 'n relax a little," Aradia says, pointedly looking from Tasha to Bishop to Saienne even as she grins. At the question of whether the whole crew is here or not, her gaze sweeps around the commons and through the galley to do a headcount before she looks back to Suji. "Nope, Ronnie, Ymir and Hatch are doin' repairs back in engineering and Max is with Finn, other 'n that, pretty much, yeah." Knowing Sujiko, she adds, "I'll take ye back there to have a look for yeself once you've had a chance to defrost 'n get settled."

"Is that so?" Saienne asks of Bishop. "Well, I suppose your condition is in the service of the Grace, an' I reckon that makes it eminently forgivable." Her attention is diverted from Bishop by the sound of Josephine's voice, and she turns around at the counter and nods at the other woman. "Surely can," she says, stepping into the galley and beginning her search. She glances once at Kael as she passes him, perhaps picking up the waves of concern coming from Lucinda and Josephine, but neither says or does anything other than stand on tiptoes to reach one of the higher cupboards.

Sujiko grins, looking around at the group. His attention is caught by the prospect of good news, and is stolen by Matty at the return comment, to which he shrugs. "Good news is we got what ya' need t' get off this rock, an' I'm fairly sure I know how t' get rid o' that singularity," he says. "Bad news is I ain't no expert, an' higher dimentional physics don't leave much room fer mistakes," he says. Turning to Ara, he adds "An' yeah, I'll take a look an' see what I can dig up. More we fix th' less we gotta replace an' the more ya' got fer spare, ya' know?"

Lucinda just watches, observes, and stays aloof. Its what she does best, afterall, but she's still looking fidgety. Maybe she's just anxiously waiting coffee.

"Just the ones on the counter," Josephine tells Kael, looking unhappy for some reason. "But I'll do the filling of them. Just get me the sugar..it's in the container just by the stove, the one with the happy flowers on it. Then you go sit down with Lucinda. I'm sure Saienne, bless her heart, won't mind helping me with the rest." She's already filling some of the mugs, knowing by heart just how everyone who's ever been part of the same crew likes their coffee. Interestingly enough, all the currently present Captains take their coffee black..and they're the ones that get served first, anyway. One of the priviledges of rank. Sujiko first, as the honoured guest. Then Aradia and Tasha.

Tasha shakes her head a little. "Okay, okay, I'll be the dumbass at the table and ask the obvious." she begins."What in the Sam Hill are you talking about?" she asks Sujiko, chuckling a little. "I mean, seriously. I've had my hands full pullin' the Yaga back together. So I'm slightly out of whack here. What's going on? What's this sing-u-lar-i-ty?" she says, carefully pronouncing the strange word "And why in hell not just call it a black hole and be done with it?" she adds quickly, nodding her thanks to Jose for the coffee. "And what's it got to do with the weather here? Or the malady that struck Finn and his people?" - I think most of us were in the same boat in this conversation, and this pose put across our collective ignorance very effectively. I'm looking forward to RPing with Tasha some more, if the opportunity presents.

"Thanks Jo," Aradia says with a warm smile to her before she looks over to Tasha, after a sip from the mug now in hand. "It's not a black hole 'n Suji can probably tell you what the reason for the weather being screwed up is but it ain't got no direct cause for why Finn's mum and everyone else got sick."

Kael Bowen makes his way over towards the container of sugar, his feet making their usual somewhat heavy falls as his eyes look about at all the people again. He reaches the stove, reaching out and snagging the container of sugar before making his way back and slips it onto the counter next to Jose. He whispers something quietly to her as he passes by, heading over towards Lucinda with a smile pulling at his mouth. He says back to her, "Oh and I would enjoy a more formal introduction, Jose.. After all you've told me about those two."

Matty seems to have spaced out with all this talk of singularities, black holes and everything else going on around her. She simply focuses on her peanuts until the packet is empty at which point she frowns and crumbles it up to stuff back in a pocket. She's not one to leave trash lying around on other people's ships, after all.

"Nope," agrees Saienne as she surfaces with the powdered milk. "Ain't no bother at all." She settles the jar down on the galley counter and then steps back, awaiting further instructions. She listens to Tasha asking her questions, and nods in agreement. "I've been meanin' to ask some of those things myself, an' all." She shrugs. "I reckon I got my head wrapped around the singularity an' the EMP an' all that - but the illness? Where does that fit in?" Aradia's comment causes her to muse out loud: "Mayhap they ain't too closely related."

Sujiko nods his confirmation with Aradia's statement. "A black hole's more specific. A singularity is basically a whole bunch o' stuff," he holds up a finger, "Compressed t' a single 0-dimentional point in space, makin' a gravitational pull somethin' wicked," he explains, visualizing an imaginary singularity at the very tip of his finger. "A black hole jus' means it's a singularity with an event horizon that nothin' can get out o', includin' light," he says. "Tha's why they call it black." He accepts his coffee from Josephine with a friendly smile and a quick "Thanks," before taking a sip and continuing his explaination. "'course, if'n this is what I think it is, it ain't never existed since th' big bang," he continues, "Which theory says started as a naked singularity. As fer th' weather, I ain't got no idea. It ain't never been observed before... god knows what th' hell it'd do to an ecosystem, 'specially an artificially terraformed one..." - Someone who knows what they're talking about! Good to RP with you, Sujiko, and thank you for the explanations.

"All things are related," Josephine observes, "Just not necessarily very closely. Thank you, Sai." She goes about pouring and mixing everyone's prefered coffee from memory and directing Saienne as to who gets what, although she does half the serving herself. "Hey, Suji..I wonder what would happen if you put this singularity thing in the gravity pull of an actual blackhole," she wonders, while handing Lucinda her mug and just before delivering Matty's.

Lucinda pipes up from where she sits. "Something akin to the Ice Age of the Earth That Was, I imagine." She says darkly to the comment of weather as she accepts the warm mug from Josephine with a quiet word of thank you.

Matty stares at Sujiko as he talks, blinking every now and then, but clearly most of everything he's saying about the singularity goes right over her head. "Uh... Could we get that in /English/, please, Suj?" she says and glances around as Josephine delivers her coffee. "Thanks, Jose." She takes a sip and gives a satisfied nod, looking up to give Josephine a broad smile. "Tastes great."

Tasha sips at her coffee and nods her agreement. "Please. Pretend I didn't exactly pass high school algebra." she smiles sweetly. "And this is great coffee, Jose." she adds.

"All right," concedes Saienne a bit gruffly, "Mayhap I ain't got my head wrapped round it after all." She frowns. "I expect somethin' like that in the heart of the rock'd throw all kinds of chaos up, ain't it so? Weather an' illnesses an' the like." A pause. "Rain of toads." She shrugs again, and looks across at Sujiko and grins a crooked grin. "Reckon from now on I'll leave the ponderin' to them that has an inklin' about what they're ponderin' on." Following Josephine's directions, Saienne takes a mug to Kael, offers one to Bishop, and keeps one for herself.

Kael Bowen moves over and sits down in front of Lucinda's chair, giving a bit of a smile up to her and nudging her leg with a shoulder. He looks around the room again before commenting, "Oh you think it's bad here.. should try by the singularity itself. Aradia was right. It makes the ship feel nearly like a vacation on a nice warm beach... not to mention the bears." He shakes his head, frowning a little as if lost in though, takes the mug offered by Saienee, giving a bit of a smile and a nod to her. - Kael's hints that something is wrong are pitched perfectly for the character. Good stuff again, and it's always a pleasure to be in a scene with Kael.

Lucinda's hand rests briefly on Kael's forehead. A moment of tenderness? Or maybe she's just checking for a fever. Whatever the intent, her hand only lingers a second or more and she leans down to mutters something in Kael's ear. Then, back to her coffee.

Sujiko takes another sip of coffee, pondering the situation carefully. Why in gods name would anyone try to do this? The risk involved is unbelievable. The comments about not understanding his explaination go unnoticed save for a light smirk and a quick comment of "if'n it goes wrong, it'd prob'ly be th' most catastrophic thing t' happen in all o' recorded history," and leaves it at that. The topic clearly has the wheels turning, as he stands quietly sipping his coffee, his gaze fixed at the empty space between his face and the floor.

Tasha winces. "Grrreeeaat." she sighs, slumping a little. "So, we've got two basic choices. Let this whatcha thing eat Haven alive and probably kill everybody on it. Or, we try and do something about it and, hey, if we screw it up, we destroy the whole Gorram 'verse! Shiny! No pressure..."

Matty looks at Sujiko, blinks and takes a sip of her coffee. "Right.. Well, it'll be fun bein' at ground zero, eh?" she says sarcastically and grins at Tasha as she leans back in her chair, turning toward Sujiko with a conspiratorial smile. "Kinda puts other stuff inta perspective, don't it?"

Josephine does not seem inclined to drink coffee herself, because she pours herself a cup of water, considering the gathered people with obvious fondness in her eyes. Knowing her, she's looking for details to see if anyone's cold or needs a pillow or a napkin or anything that can make them feel more comfortably at home. When she's satisfied that everyone will manage to survive for a moment without her constant care, she takes her cup of water and goes to hover around Matty whom she clearly still can't believe is actually here. "Yes, but what about my black hole in the black hole idea?" she asks Sujiko, curiously, while lightly drumming her hands on top of Matty's head.

Kael Bowen sips a little at his coffee before giving a quick look up towards Lucinda. His lips move, saying something quietly back. His left hand reaches up a little and pats her knee, slipping down along the front of her calf before pulling away. His eyes turn back towards the talk of the singularity, "No.. we can't let it eat t-the planet. It'll just sit there right for the Alliance to p-pick up. What we need to do is send it away or destroy it.." His mouth pulls into a bit of a grimace a couple times before it sticks.

"And I thought not having pants was a serious problem." Bishop comments before sipping his coffee and falling quiet once more.

Sujiko chuckles lightly. "I'd make a bigger black hole," he says simply, returning from Suji-land and taking another sip of coffee. "Best way o' get'n rid o' it so far's I can tell is see 'bout movin' th' whole containment unit over t' a ship or somethin' an' jus' sendin' 'er off into deep space," he pauses. "'course a rig like that... containment alone's prob'ly 'bout the size o' an Alliance cruiser," he says with a slight frown, going back to Suji-land for some more thinking. Putting something into it would only make it bigger...

Saienne takes a deep gulp of coffee as she leans against the galley counter again. She watches the group for a moment, then reaches up a hand to scrub at the stubble on the back of her head. She has a somewhat perplexed expression on her face, although whether that is due to the science or some other thing is not entirely clear. "Well," she says, quietly enough as not to intrude overly. "I reckon there must be some task Ronnie an' Ymir need a hand with..." She pauses at Kael's last comment, and her voice is raised to carry again. "Din't I hear it said by someone or other that it ain't possible to destroy it?" She shakes her head. "Or mayhap I didn't..." And, so saying, she gathers up a couple more mugs of coffee and wanders off in the direction of the engine room.

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