[Log] "A splendid culinary representation of the difference between Heaven and Hell."

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Crew Commons, Grace O'Malley [Persephone]
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A clatter of boots on metal and Saienne strides through into the Commons from the corridor down to the hold. She has a dirty rag in one hand and she is busily trying to clean her hands of whatever nastiness has got on to them. "Why we ain't ever able to acquire clean cargo I will never understand." She mutters into the air. Then, a wistful expression. "Or light cargo." A pause. "Or... cargo that moves itself..." She is grinning a crooked grin at that daydream, even as she steps towards the galley in order to give her hands a proper wash.


Alabaster Smith is already in the commons, a stranger enjoying a nice cup of coffee. He hears Saienne's words, and offers, "Ah suppose Ah might be considered cargo that moves itself, but then again, Ah'm not exactly bringing you much profit."

The tap is running before Saienne is aware of the gentleman's presence, and on hearing his voice she turns around in evident surprise, fingers dripping water onto the galley floor. "Good gorram!" She says, entirely ungraciously. "Who're you, then?" She peers for a moment until her expression of astonishment slides away into one of slightly shamefaced contrition. "My apologies, an' all. I reckon I should have come to expect to stumble upon strange faces in the Commons by now." She smiles crookedly and nudges the tap with her elbow to shut it off. She looks Alabaster up and down, and adds: "An' I hope you'll forgive me, an' all, but I surely wouldn't like to shift you neither." She smiles.

Alabaster Smith chuckles lowly, and looks to see if the mess made by his surprise announcement needs his help. "Ah do apologize, but the opportunity to comment was too good to pass up. The name's Smith. Alabaster Smith. Ah'm a humble servant of the Lord, just here for the run to Sihnon." He looks rueful for a brief moment. "Where ah'd planned to participate in the cooking contest, until Ah learned of its postponement."

There isn't much water, just a few too many drips on the floor than should be there. Saienne grabs the teatowel from beside the sink and dries her hands on it - unfortunately her attempts to clean the grime from her fingers has been less than thorough, and it smears now in a lovely dark mess all over the pale linen. "Oh, hell's bells." Saienne says, frowning so that the crowsfeet around her eyes wrinkle. "Josephine's goin' to have my gorram guts for garters." She blinks at the cloth and then hastily tucks it into one of her pockets. Looking up at Alabaster brightly, she says: "Then again, what she don't know can't hurt me, ain't it so?" She steps out of the galley then, and towards the gentleman. "Pleased to make your acquaintance an' all," Sai says. "I'm Saienne - shifter of loads an' doer of odd jobs." She grins crookedly. "You're a cook an' all? Ain't that shiny. The cook off is... curry, ain't it?"

Alabaster Smith chuckles again, shaking his head in amusement. "Hell's bells. Ah've never actually heard the bells of Hell, though Ah've heard many a church bell," he teases. "Nice to meet you as well, madame. Ah am indeed something of a cook, and Ah'd planned to enter a fine goat curry - the teaching of some of my recipes to Josephine being the price of my passage - but now Ah am at a crossroads."

"Well, I ain't never heard them neither," Sai says evenly, the teasing for the most part passing her by. "An' I reckon I don't really want to, truth be told." She shrugs, a fluid gesture, and scrutinises the gentleman closely. "If Josephine's learnin' is the only profit we get from carryin' you, Mister Smith, I do reckon it's entirely worth the trouble." She pauses in her speech to walk over to the dining table, whereupon she sits down on one of the benches, tucking her legs under the table. "Here's hopin' you get a chance to try your curry out on us before we reach Sihnon, then." She turns to the man. "An' would you be of the school of aromatic curries, all cardamom an' spice, or hotter than hot tongue-burners?"

Alabaster Smith grins widely. "Why, both, of course. They serve as a splendid culinary representation of the difference between Heaven and Hell. Ah offer up the one kind to show people why it might feel like to burn if they lead an unrepentant, sinful, Godless existence... and the other kind to show them the subtle, delicate nuances of a morally-upright life with the Lord in their heart. Ah reckon you wouldn't be surprised that it's remarkably effective at times." He shrugs. "My primary motivation for traveling to Sihnon may be gone, but Ah believe a bargain is a bargain, and Ah will happily take the journey anyway, so as to impart what knowledge Ah can upon Josephine."

Saienne grins crookedly, but also looks a little incredulously at Alabaster. "I do believe, Mister Smith, that you may be the first person in the 'Verse to have made a theological point usin' the heat - or lack thereof - of curry as illustration." A pause, and the grin fades a little to a smile: "Leastwise the first person to preach such a way at me, ain't it so? An' I expect you'll have to be cookin' with more rather than fewer chilli peppers in my helpin'." She nods as Alabaster continues. "Well, it's only been postponed, ain't it? Mayhap when we get to Sihnon there'll be some news of a reschedulin' or somesuch."

Alabaster Smith nods solemnly. "The journey," he says, "is sometimes much more interesting than reaching the destination. That's how Ah like to look at it. So even if the competition is postponed, Ah may find something of value there after all. And the trip itself is a great way to meet new folks."


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Eavesdown Docks - Persephone
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While the other two women, Aradia and Lucinda, might be hovering by Grace's ramp and sharing whiskey, Josephine is some distance away and alone. Missing her yellow hairscarf, it looks for all intents and purposes that she has been recently electrocuted, what with the way her not quite so very short curls are sticking up every which way in a chaotic mess. The woman herself is very calm, very stoic, sitting atop a crate in a meditative posture with her hands working her prayer beads and her lips mouthing a silent prayer.

Rubbing a greasy rag across his already dark stained hands and knuckles, Hatch steps from the confines of the cargo bay. His sweater remains tied around his middle for the time being as he starts to get a look around, drinking in the sights and sounds of the docks with a mild sigh of contentment. His attention takes in Jo, Ara, much of the crew that seems to be close by, but the big fella has little to say as of yet.

Lucinda eases down onto the ramp next to Aradia. She's not in her fancy duds, and already looks a bit grimy, so there's no real reason to protest sitting in the dust. Smiling too, she takes the flask and takes a modest sip from it. "I thought you might like that." She hears boot falls behind her and she glances up in that direction, offering a raised flask in salute to Hatch.

Pulling her knees up toward her chest, her elbows resting on them and her boots propped on the edge of the ramp, Aradia chuckles softly and then turns her head, hearing the same footfalls behind her. "Hey Hatch," she says when her gaze settles on the man standing there before she turns to face forward again, silent a few moments before she leans a little toward Lucinda and says quietly, "Thank you."

Saienne follows not far off Hatch's heels, stepping nimbly down the ramp towards the dust of the dock. Her hat, as usual, is crammed down on her head, and she has her dark coat on and her canvas satchel slung over her shoulder - another errand on the cards, most likely. She draws level with Hatch and glances across first at Aradia and Lucinda, and then at Josephine - and then at the broader bustle of Eavesdown. "Company been any more polite today?" she asks to the air in general.

Josephine is not really close enough or in the right frame of mind to be saying hello to any of the folks congregating on Grace's ramp. She does look peaceful enough where she is, still like a statue but for her hands on her beads. A slight breeze ruffles her crazy hair. Her dark gaze is directed away from Grace, but to no where in particular.

A raise of a dirty hand is the reply to the flask, and much tucking of the rag into the corner of one of his front pockets. "Heard you all had a bit of a walk or the like. Pick up anything nice?" Hatch makes in way of idle conversation as he starts to clump down the ramp a few more feet, "Dunno Sai, I just barely got out in the weather myself." He states as he thoughtfully gnaws on the end of a toothpick, his gaze lingering upon Jo once again and he starts in that direction refraining from reaching out to touch upon either Ara or Lu, for obvious reasons.

Lucinda leans towards Aradia too, bumping shoulders with the slighter framed woman. "Anytime." She says just as quietly before she sneaks another sip out of the flask and offers it back to the captain. She twists to look back at Saienne and Hatch, responding first to the man. "Didn't pick up anything a little penicillin can't cure." Then Sai. "Right peaceful now it seems. Off to work?"

Another glance over her shoulder in Saienne's direction and Aradia chuckles, replying, "As polite as a bunch o' ill-mannered spawn can be." Taking the flask back from Lucinda, she adds, "'n what the penicillin won't kill, I'm hopin' the whiskey will," as she watches Hatch wander right past. Shaking her head, she leans in to say something more to the doctor.

Saienne gestures at the crowd on the dock with one long-fingered hand. "They was all obstreperous an' unfriendly-like yesterday, is all. Wonderin' if folk were any nicer today." She wrinkles her nose in a slight frown and stays standing where she is, half way between the safety of the hold and the chaos of the dock. She nods to Lucinda, and smiles a crooked little smile. "Ain't it so that I'm always workin'?" She says, the joke intended to be entirely at her own expense. "But true enough, I got an appointment. Ain't in no real hurry, though." She listens carefully as Lucinda and the Captain describe their 'walk'. "Don't sound like no kind of fun," she says gravely.

Lucinda snickers at Aradia's words, responding in a whisper of her own so they look like a pair of school girls. Her laughter dies off and settles into a smile as she then continues the conversation with Saienne. "You are always working. Come, have a drink before you skirt off."

Pulling his bandanna from his head, Hatch's only real gesture of disturbance of Jose's moment of silence is to hang the scrap of cloth across her wrist before he turns back round to the other two. "Sounds like they should have hired a companion instead." With a hint of amusement in his tone ne starts to meander back over to stand near the Doc and Ara. "So long as your home safe, didn't bring home to many strays, didn't end up married again.. blah blah blah." He rambles on in lue of saying, glad your home okay.

Josephine fingers move over the well-worn beads as she speaks prayer after prayer after prayer after prayer. She is not facing Grace, so she cannot see anyone approach her..even if she was looking out for such things, either way. Prayer after prayer after prayer, shaped silently by her lips and sent into the evening air. When Hatch places the bandana upon her wrist, it disrupts the cadence of her repetitions. However, it does not seem to bother her much, because she actually smiles..pressing the crinkled black fabric against the palm of her hand. Now, it seems, she is able to focus her gaze properly, on the people of Eavesdown Docks, which is what she now does, in absolute silence.

Reaching to snag the flask back from Lucinda, Aradia says, "We're going to need a bottle if we keep up." Smirking at Hatch's assertion of keeping company with Companions to avoid the need for penicillin, she turns her gaze back to Saienne and says, "Mari was too sick for Eric to bring her here so we went there." With a brief flicker of concern, she looks back to Lucinda and asks, "Is she goin' to make it you reckon? She looked pretty bad off."

"Ain't it the truth," Sai says with a crooked grin. "But I'll be damned if I know what I'd do instead." She swings the satchel over her head and settles herself down in the dust with the other two women, her coat sweeping down around her in a dark fan of material. She puts the satchel in her lap and places a hand on it in a protective manner. She turns dark, solemn eyes to Aradia. "I'm glad to hear you managed to track them down," she says, entirely genuinely - and looks then expectantly to Lucinda for the answer to the Captain's question.

Lucinda gives an assertive nod of her head. "Her lungs will actually clear quickly now that she has antibiotics. The other effects of pneumonia will quickly disappear along with it..her fever will break, the pain will subside. We've seen that she's properly fed and hydrated..she'll be just fine." She assures, reaching out to lightly pat Aradia on the leg in an attempt to comfort.

Hatch shakes out his braids as he takes his place standing along side the others, "She was missing her scarf." He explains by way of what he was doing over by Jo, but even then having no real reason to need to explain. He dips his chin slightly as he listens in on the conversation to get a better grasp of whats going on.

Josephine spends a while longer, perched on that crate, holding the bandana in her hand and looking at the various faces of the people in the crowd. But eventually, she must return to the people who will eventually need her. She takes a deep breath and drops down from the crate, taking a moment to straighten her tunic and coat and work out the brief stiffness in her knees before she makes her way to the others in silence.

"Yeah, Eric came 'n got me this morning," Aradia says up to Saienne, "Just needed to let 'em know I was here which was harder 'n normal because they weren't where they usually are." Drawing a deep breath, she bows her head, nodding at Lucinda's assurance and then giving the doctor's hand a squeeze of silent thanks. Reminded of something Lucinda said, she starts to speak before she hears Hatch's comment and she nods. "She gave it to Elsa," she explains, as if Hatch should know who she's talking about even though he doesn't. Turning her gaze to Saienne, she asks, "You think you can possibly find out for me how much a couple crates o' canned food and stuff that won't rot or go bad will cost me, and some medicine and soap and stuff like that?"

Saienne smiles lop-sidedly, reassured by the other woman's obvious expertise. "Good job we got you around, Lucinda, ain't it?" She looks up and over her shoulder at Hatch - and then beyond him to Josephine. "She looked to be concentratin' pretty hard an' all." And then, as Josephine stirs herself from her meditations, Saienne watches her in her silent path towards them. "Evenin' Josephine," she says amicably. Aradia's question garners a nod from Saienne. "General supplies? Surely can," she says, quietly. "You want me to acquire it an' all, or just bring you some prices?"

The first mate for a time closes his eyes with a bit of a mixed expression upon his face as he turns his face in the direction of the warmth of the latest landed ship. One of his braids that are now loose tumble down across his face half hanging over one eye, bringing with it a bit of a grin and a light puff of air from his lips that does utterly nothing. "Same two kids then?" He mentions as he listens to what there is of an explination, but really he's out of the loop in this case. Not that he's to worried about it.

Lucinda squeezes Aradia's hand right back. "Its what I get paid the big credits for." She says with a smile Saienne's way, but quiets as the Captain and Sai work out supplies for the 'Sephone children they just met.

"Well hello there, Ms. Saienne," Josephine says fondly, albeit lacking her usual sparkle. She lingers a small distance away from the others. "Ara, did you want me to get to fixing supper straight away?" she inquires dutifully, standing there with that empty backpack over one shoulder and the bandana still in her hands. Apparently, the unfashionable state of her hair isn't weighing on her mind.

Aradia considers Saienne's question before she says, "Unless you can figure out what's good to eat that kids won't reckon throwing at each other is better than eating. Maybe Jo could help you with that?" The Captain, who eats cereal in coffee and peanut butter straight from the jar for a meal, is hardly a spokesperson for nutrition. She nods briefly to Hatch and declines against bringing up Lucinda's actual lack of a paycheck. Her gaze shifting at last to Josephine with a faint smile and shakes her head. "Not unless you really feel like cooking," she says. "I was thinking that maybe we could all order something in for dinner tonight." In the same breath, a thought comes to Aradia as she says, "I didn't see Marco there. Did you see him?" Turning to Lucinda, she adds, "I'm pretty sure he wasn't there, which means he didn't get a shot either."

"I reckon you'd do it whatever, credits or no," Saienne replies to Lucinda, although her attention is drawn quickly to Josephine, who she observes with a critical look. "Mister Smith was mentionin' somethin' about impartin' his curryin' skills to you," she says. "But he also said somethin' vexin' about the relationship between heat an' Hell an' subtlety an' the state of Grace." She pauses, a frown forming. "I reckon he was makin' a theological point with curry." She looks up then, somewhat helplessly. "That ain't the kind of preachin' I'm accustomed to, I must confess." She grins crookedly at Aradia. "Nothin' would make me happier," Sai says, "If Josephine don't mind none, of course."

Lucinda nods to Aradia's revelation. "Well if you can track him or any of the others down, I'll be happy to oblige with further dispensing. Just let me know when and where I need to be with my little pop gun." And with that, the doctor stands with a bit of an exaggerated groan. "I'm going to go lay down for a bit. I was up at an ungodly hour."

Hatch finds himself for the time being still and silent, aside from the slow blast of exaust that draws across the landing zone rustling clothes, and anything light enough to move. Though given enough time and only a rather vague undestanding of whats happening, he moves again to close the few steps of distance between himself and Jose offering a rather work stained hand in her direction. Were he to understand all that happend, or were he needed, he would be told as much.

In a rare moment of history, Josephine says to Aradia, "That sounds like a lovely idea. We'll order in." She seems grateful, actually. "And I'd be very pleased to help Saienne with this task. I can show her where we usual order restocks for the galley here on Persephone. I'm sure we can get a good price for whatever we require. ..And I imagine I'm likely to have some interesting conversations with Preacher Smith," she decides, with relative optimism. Strangely, it takes a moment for her to react to Hatch's offered hand, but then she takes it warmly in her own, nevermind the grease and whatnot.

Pushing herself up off the ramp with a grunt herself, Aradia says, "We'll order in and since the whiskey is inside, in we go." Turning to traipse slowly up the ramp, she says, "Preacher Smith can get as theological as he wants with my curry as long as it's in a bowl in front o' me and working its way into my belly."

Saienne nods once to Josephine. "That'd be real good of you," she says, slinging her satchel over her head again, and flattening the brim of her hat as she pulls the shoulder strap down. "I'll scoot off on this job first, get it out of the way an' all. Won't be more than half an hour, I reckon." She pushes herself to standing, following Ara's lead, but turns to head down to the docks instead of back inside the Grace. "See y'all soon."