[Log]

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Dorsal Observatory, Grace O'Malley [Paquin]
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While the observation deck is commonly used on military and corporate vessels as a briefing room or executive lounge, here, it's been converted into something far more welcoming. Three soft, overstuffed couches and several armchairs of emerald green have been gathered about a broad, low-lying table of burnished oak. An age-faded map of the oceans and lands of an unfamiliar planet are set deep below layers of varnish on the tabletop. Carpet in a myriad of oceanic blues in a wavelike pattern extends to every edge of the deck, covering the metal plating of the floor. To the aft of the deck, an ornately carved oak bar curves slightly to create a nook against the half-dome of blast-proof reinforced glass that comprises the ceiling and all but the fore wall, allowing a view of the rear hull of the ship and all that may lie beyond. Narrow stairs from below open up against the lone wall, which is covered in a lovingly painted mural. A regal looking woman with close cropped auburn hair stands defiantly proud at the prow of an ancient sailing vessel, and looking out over verdant, rocky shores in the distance. The bright summer sky of the painting seems to illuminate the whole of the room and its winds fill the illustrated sails.
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The observation deck is lit atmospherically, with both the internal lights and the ruddy afternoon sun on Paquin sending long shadows across the furniture and the floor. Outside the windows, beyond the curve of the Grace herself, the chaotic sprawl of the spaceport curls around, melting out into the colourful and rowdy streets of the city.

Saienne has walked a quiet path up to the observation deck wearing, of all things, a full length skirt. It appears to be good red taffeta and has been apliqued with tiny russet leaves. She stands near the windows, looking down on the activity below, humming something under her breath and tapping one booted foot. She appears to be waiting for someone.


Josephine hurries up the stairs a short time later, wearing her own, far more modest sort of dress. She also has what seems to be a paper flower stuck behind one ear. "Sai! Am I late? Were you waiting long? Did you find the right kind of music?" the little woman asks, all in one breath, clearly very happy at the prospect of a dancing-oriented event.

Tyr makes his way on up, in, well, what he always wears: his jeans, flannel shirt, and work boots. He doesn't have much variety, it seems. "Oh. Sai. You look so pretty. And you too, Jo. You look nice." He grins. "I haven't danced in a while."

Saienne looks entirely delighted that Josephine seems to have entered into the spirit of things. "Surely did," she says, with a crooked grin as she turns from the window. "Spent a good hour trawlin' the Cortex an' even managed to turn up a recordin' of Slof Galliard, which is a mighty fine dance - although perhaps a little complex for a first round, an' all." She looks up as Tyr steps up the stairs. "Tyr!" she exclaims. "Fine an' dandy, although we need to find ourselves another fellow to even us out some."

Josephine lifts her little com unit to her lips, out of habit as she announces the party to the entire ship, all the while grinning at Saienne and Tyr. Once that is accomplished, she grins. "Hopefully, that'll do," she says to them both, with a sigh, adjusting the yellow paper flower in her hair. "This is going to be so fun!"

Hatch comes out of nowhere.. okay, he comes walking up the stairs at a mildly sluggish pace. "Whats going on now?" asks the firsrt mate as he rubs at his slightly grease stained face."I caught about half of that on the comms."

Tyr chuckles a little bit and waves. "Hatch! Hatch! You can be our second fella." He waves at him, gesturing him into the dance circle. "And Sai, you should be my partner." He decides this, apparently. He is the decider.

Saienne glances in Hatch's direction as he mounts the stairs to the observation deck. "My," she says. "That was quick." She looks back to Josephine. "Well, that's four of us. Plenty of dances can be done with four." She moves, then, over to the bar and the stereo, her silk skirt swishing and her heeled boots tapping as she walks. It does not take her long to cue up the music, and soon an energetic reel can be heard on the speakers - quiet still, yet, as the details are resolved. She grins crookedly at Tyr. "Well an' good," she says to him, inclining her head in somewhat of a bow. She steps back towards the small group. "How about a round of Balance the Star to get us goin'?"

Josephine smiles adoringly to the man with grease stains on his face. "Hi there! We get to dance!" she informs him, joyfully. "And, Sai, I have no idea what Balance the Star is, but I'm enthusiastic about learning!" She twirls around in her not so twirly skirt, just for fun. Unfortunately, this makes her paper flower fall out from behind her ear, but it probably wasn't very practical for dancing, anyway, so she pays it no mind. "Saienne, O Wise Teacher, we await your instruction!"

Scratching at the top of his head Hatch wanders closer to the circle starting to get a grasp of whats going on in the least, he leans down to pick the paper flower spun from the ear of the woman wearing his ring, and stands to look upon it. "Hmm, and Sai in a skirt too.. this has been an intresting day. Okay, count me in."

"See?" says Tyr with a bit of a grin. "Oh, boy. I'm not really formally trained at any of this, you just go to the town dances and --" Tyr cuts off his babbling. "Well. I bet Sai will teach us something!"

"Don't you fret none," says Saienne to Tyr and Josephine. "This one's real simple," Her foot is tapping in time to the music. "An' I'll call it for you, an' all." She smiles fondly at Josephine. "That's the point, ain't it? These dances have patterns an' rhythmns an' anyone can dance them if the caller ain't half bad." She looks around the observation deck, then, looking for the most likely dancefloor, soon seizing on the space by the bar as the most appropriate. "Now," she says, evenly. "We need to gather ourselves in what's known as a Sicilian Circle - ain't got no idea why it's called that - which is essentially the four of us stood alternatin' boy an' girl all round in a circle." She turns her back on the bar, then, and looks up expectantly at the remaining three to take their places.

Josephine is actually quite an adept learner when it comes to dancing. And, for the record, Hatch isn't half bad either. The little cook is wide-eyed and listening as she does her part to create the circle as described. "We don't have to move the couches, or anything? For more space?"

"Guess not." Answers Hatch for the moment as he starts to untie his sweater from his belt, and well the tool and gunbelt that go atop the bar with it for the time being. The teeshirt under is, clean for once? Perhaps he didn't get to far into tinkering before he heard the call, that or Jo's been having a good influence on the man. He takes up a position where he thinks Sai would want him.

Tyr makes his way over to stand next to Sai, so it can be Sai-Tyr-Lu-Hatch. "Or are we supposed to be facing one another?" he asks, a frown crossing his face. He looks over at Sai as if he's afraid he did something wrong.

Saienne shakes her head in response to Josephine. "No, this one stays nice an' tight into the circle, so I reckon we'll be just fine." She nods to Tyr as he steps into line. "Just curve round a little so you're opposite Hatch - we should be pointed like a diamond." She then appraises the others' positioning carefully and nods, smiling a lop-sided smile. "We'll walk it through, then, if y'all are ready?" She presses a button on the remote looped into her belt and the music skips on from a reel to a lively jig. "It goes somethin' like this," she says, lifting up her right hand and standing side on to the circle. "Place your right hands near mine an' face the back of the person next to you. So Tyr, you be lookin' at Josephine's back, Josephine at Hatch's, Hatch at mine, an' me at yours, Tyr." The four of them should now be standing in a circle right arms outstretched and right hands together in the circle's centre. "An' then, on the beat, we draw in -" she takes a side step towards the centre of the circle "- an' out again, an' dance half the way round."

Josephine can actually be calm and attentive when she's learning something, and that's what she's focusing on doing now, listening to Sai's instructions and studying the moves so she won't have to think so much when they really get into it. Of course, she's still smiling from ear to ear, because, as everyone knows, Josephine just loves to dance..and this is a whole new kind of dancing for her.

Hatch slips his hands into his pockets for a time, listening to what Sai has to say with a look of concentration. He's not a terrible dancer but has nowhere near the fluid grace Jo exibits, Tyr and Sai are unknowns to him at this point but he's still going to give things ago and try and enjoy himself.

Tyr screws his brow all up when he hears the call. He looks like he's concentrating /really/ hard: Don't mess up, don't mess up, don't mess up. Thinky-face. He holds out his hand, waiting for the music to start.

"An' after that, we about turn an' do the same thing the other way round." And she does so, spinning on her booted heel so that she would now be facing Hatch's back if he had turned also on the beat. She has switched arms, also, and it is her left arm that points, palm up, to the centre of the circle. She waits for the others to turn also. "An' then skip-dance half the circle round again, so we're back where we started." She does so, smiling encouragingly. "Next, turn to the fellow who ain't your partner - Josephine to Tyr an' me to Hatch, that'll be - an' do-si-do on the right hand until you're standin' on the other side, an' then turn to your partner an' do the same over again." She grins reassuringly. "Clear as mud?"

Josephine laughs as she practices a do-si-do with whomever seems unstartled and willing. "That's a lovely word! Tyr, we get to do-si-do!" she proclaims, happily, picking up the instructions and the steps fairly quickly. "And with Hatch too! Sai, why is it called a do-si-do?"

Hatch thinks he's getting it, but manages to go quite the wrong way in a couple of these steps. "Hoi, what.. wait, oh the other, yeah." He says as he dodges back the other way to get it right, laughing a bit as he does so. "What it called?"

Tyr shakes his head as he moves around with Josephine on her practice lap as well. "I think I got it," says Tyr, pushing a smile out to the fore. "But I guess we're only gonna see when we go and do it, right?"

"Just what I was hopin' to hear," Sai says with a smile to Tyr, and she turns the volume up. The jig, infectious and causing toe-tapping for at least one person in the troupe, livens up somewhat. "It's called Balance the Star, Hatch, an' it always was one of my favourites." To Josephine, Sai says: "Some old Earth language, I expect. My Aunt Loretta always said it meant back-to-back, on account of never actually facin' your partner in a do-si-do, but I ain't sure on the truth of that." She grins crookedly. "Aunt Lottie said a lot of things, ain't it so?" There is a pause, and she taps her foot in time to the tune, waiting for the starting bar. "Here we go," Saienne says, raising her voice, "To balance out the star! One, Two, Three, Four..." And she starts by skipping the circle one way, then the other, calling out and nodding when people get the right step and grinning broadly when they do not - herself included. For the do-si-do'ing she whirls around Hatch and then around Tyr, red skirt swirling wildly.

Josephine isn't terribly worried about perfection, especially with the confused looking men about, but she does have a blast even with the skipping part alone..and the rest is just jolly embellishment! She tries her best to imitate the way Saienne does things, more or less, beaming at every who looks her way. "This music is /fantasic/!" she declares.

Our dear first mate, once he gains a little more confidence in knowing the steps starts to enjoy himself. Oh yes he screws some of them right up.. but that seems not to bother him in the least as he moves about the circle, turning as called, and at last he manages to get down this concept of do-se-do. He's most certinaly glad he took off his sweater too boot, but thats another story.

Tyr laughs and moves around with Sai and Jo. While he doesn't quite have it entirely, at least he seems to loosen up a bit by the second go-around. He calls out to Sai, "Look at your skirts go, Sai!"

The way Saienne does things is to fling herself energetically around the dance in time to the music, whooping and hollering and calling out the steps when they need calling. "Ain't it just!" crows Saienne back to Josephine as they come to the end of their first round - and she is a little breathless, it must be confessed. "Doin' fantastic, Hatch!" She calls as she swirls her skirt in Tyr's direction, looking a million times more feminine now than... well... than she ever has while she's been aboard the Grace. Grinning, Sai takes a step back out of the circle and beams back round at the small gathering. "Well, now. That was just fine! Ready to run it to the end of the tune? Just keep goin' after the last do-si-do back into the half-circle. Ain't no bother if it gets messy - just keep goin' an' don't fall over!"

Josephine eyes Saienne's swirling skirt a bit enviously, but hers will have to do. With her face aglow with the excitement of this new experience, she hops up and down a few times, even during the small pause. "Yes, let's!" she encourages, grinning to everyone present. "This is some good exercise, isn't it!?"

With all the noise up here already, it probably makes no difference whatsoever as to just how loud or quiet Aradia's footsteps are as she comes up the stairs. Stopping at the top, she turns to lean in against the railing, watching the festivities in silence as she works at rubbing grease off her hands with an old rag, already covered in at least as much grease as she's trying to remove.

Hatch wears a very discreet smile, but it is rare the man truely beams. "I'm up for it Sai, must say this is a side of you I never expected." The first mate commments and slips back into position, tapping one foot to the rythem that is. "Well I think we can do it up then as long as I don't step on anyone."

"Well," says Saienne in reply to Hatch, "Enjoyin' a good dance ain't much of a dark secret, so I reckon y'all are safe yet." She grins and taps her foot again to count in the start of the dance. "An'... One, two, three, four!" On which count she launches back into Balance the Star, calling out and swirling and turning round Tyr and Hatch with abandon. As the tune winds itself down, the dance comes to a natural end after three or four rounds, and Sai laughs a little, pausing for breath, before she sees Aradia at the top of the stairs. "Captain," she says, still breathless. "You comin' to join us? I don't mind steppin' out an' callin' if you want to take my place."

Tyr laughs and takes a few deep breaths when the dance comes to a close. "Boy, Sai, you wore me right on out." He shakes his head at her, but has a smile all over his face nonetheless. "What's next?"

Josephine looks a little dizzy, but that could just be her happy expression. She uses Hatch as a leaning post for a moment as she catches her own breath. "Whew! Ara! Hi! I don't mind..having a bit..of a break..myself..if you want to trade places. Sai looks like she could go on for years without a break..." The little cook seems impressed. Tired, too.

Quirking a smile as Saienne looks over and addresses her, Aradia just shakes her head and says, "No, you lot go on," as she continues rubbing at the grease on her hands. "Just popped up to see what all that stomping was I could hear downstairs," she explains with a chuckle, waving Jo off as she repeats, "No, s'fine."

Hatch holds Jo gently in his arms as the first dance comes to a close, "Getting a little worn down myself, and all that. Perhaps just one more?" He smiles slowly, breaking into a very warm grin.. "I won't get into skirts though, I don't have the legs for it."

The music has slipped from the energetic jig into a more mournful-sounding reel, all violins and flutes, and a cue for Sai to take her feet off the dancefloor and aim for the bar - and a fine tune for a couple to sway along to should they feel so inclined. "Hope we weren't causin' too much noise," she says, "Or shakin' too much loose." She leans back against the bar and regards the four of them. "Reckon we could squeeze in a few rounds of Muffin Man Jig, in honour of our very favourite blueberry muffin baker."

Tyr laughs softly at that and shakes his head. "Muffin Man Jig?" he asks. "I don't know that, but then again, they are pretty tasty muffins that we got."

"Muffins!" Josephine exclaims merrily, hearing that key word of joy, even though she's not even sure what exactly Saienne is talking about. And the small woman doesn't look like she's immediately inclined to be dancing with Hatch (or anyone else), more like..just resting against him for the time being and smiling at the people around her, whom she clearly likes very much.

"Entirely too much noise," Aradia says sternly to Saienne as she steps out from the railing she's leaning against and follows the woman over to the bar. Dropping the rag down on it, she circles around behind it as she says, "You're leavin' Tyr standing out there all on his own, Sai. Go on 'fore he starts feeling silly. I'll get y'all a drink if you tell me what you want."

"I don't feel silly," says Tyr. Although it's like the Uncertainty Principle of Tyrs or something. But saying he doesn't feel silly, he suddenly feels quite silly indeed.

"Muffin Man Jig," affirms Saienne, with a nod. "Just as lively as Balance the Star, but a little more complex. Works best with larger groups, but it's a nifty little dance for four all the same." She smiles lop-sidedly at Aradia and, nodding, says: "Right you are, then." She steps back towards the dancefloor, her breath caught, and starts to describe the dance - more right-handed and left-handed stars, but no do-se-dos and a couple of gallops and arches instead. She steps out some of the steps, gesturing to where people should be standing and which partners they should be dancing with, and then turns back to Aradia. "You sure you don't want in, Captain?"

Josephine listens, wide-eyed, drawn away from Hatch in order to experience these new steps and the prospect of a new dance. She does glance at Aradia again as well, clearly willing to give up her place in a moment, if Aradia wanted to have a go at it. "Anything with muffin in the name can't be half bad," she announces, but mostly to herself.

"I'm positive," Aradia says to Saienne with a smile as she unscrews the cap of the scotch bottle in hand, glancing over toward where the other four are gathered standing around in the middle with some music playing. Filling a glass, she recaps the bottle and leans in against the bar she's behind, gulping down a mouthful of scotch before she retrieves her rag and returns to rubbing grease off her hands.

Tyr laughs softly and steps up with his new partner, well, old partner, Sai, and then waits for the dance to kick on off. "I'm all ready if everyone else is," he comments, waiting.

"Ready, are we?" Saienne asks the three who have elected to dance with her. The music shifts seamlessly from the reel to another jig, heavy - and slightly daft, if must be said - with the sound of an acordian. "Oh three - one an' two an' three!" And she's off again, calling the steps as she dances them wildly, skirts swirling, heels tapping and cheeks flushing. She seizes Tyr by the hands and pulls him round in time to the jig until... half way through the round her PDA starts to burble its familiar tone and she swings to a half. "Good gorram," she murmurs, "Ain't never a private time, is there?" She looks at Tyr in apology. "You mind if I take this? Don't doubt it'll be important an' I'll regret it if I miss it." Already she has let go of his hands and is reaching into a pocket for the battered silvery thing.

Josephine vastly enjoys the brief jig herself, in her inexperienced sort of way, pulling Hatch along with her with cheerfully energetic glee, until the moment is broken by the sad call of Saienne's PDA. "Oh.." the woman says, looking disappointed as their caller is drawn away and there isn't much to do but stop dancing for a time, which isn't really a bad thing, in the end, because Josephine's just about out of breath. She twirls her way over to a couch where she collapses in a huff. "Thirsty.." she whispers hoarsely, sounding as if she's been left out in the desert for days. Of course, she's dramatising.

Maxwell makes his way up the stairs, lookng rather dapper and suprisingly well-groomed for a married man. He peeps about the room for a moment, and as the music strikes up again his nose wrinkles up as if he smells something unbelieveably foul. "There's nothing wrong with an accordion played /properly,/ mind you... but what hack is doing such obscene things to music?"

Tyr turns his head slightly and looks over. "I don't think I know him," murmurs Tyr softly, to Aradia, waving at Sai to take her call. "Go, go, it was fun." He flashes a bright smile, and then waits.

Hands as clean as they're going to get without a good scrubbing, Aradia looks like the working half of a married couple as she drops the rag back down onto the counter and says to Josephine, "I offered drinks 'n no one took me up on it," before she shrugs and gulps down another mouthful of scotch. As Max comes up the stairs, she shifts her gaze and says, "Welcome home, again. Sorry. No bunting or streamers so you'll once again just have to settle for this."