[Vignette] 27.08.07

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Windsor Weapons, Ezra
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The interior of this room, is something to cause awe in even the oldest of settlers. This is mainly cause, no matter how old they may be, they feel young against the oak counter and the weapon lockers complete with glass fronts and steel gratings. The same counts for the fellow behind it, he looks like an ancient, a tree grown in this place and weathered by ages. The room is actually rather small if you are a customer, most taken away by gigantic sales counter with the old cash box on it. The windows to the outside are laden with dirt and dust, dimming the light in the room to level far lower then outside. A single light bulb hangs from a slowly turning ceiling mounted fan. A door behind the counter leads somewhere else, and the only other exist is Out onto the Public Market
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Morgaine looks over the items here, "I see several things I want but I can't afford them yet."


Peeper doesn't seem inclined to get to close. She just peers at the displays from a few feet back.


Saienne is looking a little idly at the racks of guns and cabinets of ammunition. "Me an' all, Morgaine." She says, her hands in her pockets. She rocks back on her heels. "I expect I should step into the cargo office an' pick our next assignment." She leans in close to peer at a rifle with a fine walnut stock. "Seems every time I try for Persephone, somethin' comes along to turn us around." She smiles lop-sidedly. "Mayhap this time we'll get lucky."


Peeper hmms and says quietly,"I'm gonna see what else is around. I'm not much into guns and stuff."


Morgaine smiles, "it is good to have arms at need. I have my pistol but my heavier armored coat had to be sold."

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[Log] "I'm like a gorram bloodhound."

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Cargo Bay, Grace O'Malley [Shadow]
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"Cap'n! Hey!" Tyr is sitting on a cargo container, hopping on off of it when Saienne comes down into the Hold. "How's it going?" he wonders.


Mid afternoon and Saienne steps down from the decks above to the sound of voices in the hold. She smiles a lop-sided smile at Tyr as he greets her, and nods in return. "Fine an' dandy," she replies. "An' thank you for askin'." She slips her hands into the pockets of her coat and takes the few more steps required to draw into their circle.


"Ya get my note?" asks Tyr. "Ms. Del'dova said she might have a bit more work for us, if we were game." He jerks his thumb. "I can show you where she's holin' up if you want to go talk."


Morgaine comes into the hold, her eyes are haunted. She looks cold as if she has been outside for hours. She is still in her browncoat with the insignia of her former rank in the Independant forces. The woman doesn't look like this has been a happy visit for her.


"I surely did," Saienne says to Tyr in affirmation. "An' more work ain't ever a bad thing in my book." A pause, as she considers. "Well, dependin' on the kind of work, an' all. Rock-breaking's somethin' I could be happy not doin'." She looks up as Morgaine re-enters the ship, and a small frown forms. "You been out there all this time?" She asks, quietly.


Tyr eyes Morgaine in her brown coat and rank insignia and shakes his head. Rather than sympathetic, he seems more annoyed than anything. He shakes his head. "Well. You wanna go on out and see her?"


Morgaine briefly glances at Tyr and notes his expression before she looks at Sai, "Yes, I was. I went to where my father died." She doesn't say more and appearantly the cold outside doesn't match the cold inside from the expression of her eyes.


Saienne's own expression is placid in the face of Tyr's annoyance, but she once again looks up and over at the cause of it. "Well an' good." Is all she says in reply to Morgaine. Her attention is drawn back to Tyr as he asks his question, and Sai pulls one of her hands out of her pocket. Reaching up to scritch at the stubble at the back of her head, Saienne nods slowly. "Reckon we might as well - if she's open to visitors, an' all."


"Sure thing," says Tyr with a nod of his head. "Want to head on out to her, then, or wait on about here?"


Morgaine shakes her head as she looks at the others, "So are our passengers still here or have they vanished. I have yet to see one since she first came on board and I didn't see the other at all."


"They got business down on Shadow, far as I understand it." Saienne says, quietly. "An' they were pretty private, weren't they?" The woman shrugs, a fluid roll of her shoulders, and nods to Tyr. "Reckon I'll try wavin' her before we go marchin' on in. Ain't polite."


Tyr nods his head thoughtfully. "Yeah," he confirms for Saienne and Morgaine. "She's got a warehouse down here on the planet. Apparently fixin' to do some business through there, having' people haul various things."


Morgaine says in English, "Seeing Shadow rising again would be a good thing. A fitting tribute."


Saienne pulls her PDA out of one of her pockets. Before tapping on it to wake it up and send a wave, she looks up at Tyr's words - and then out at Shadow's dark evening sky. "They ain't... plannin' on settlin' the place again?" She muses. "Place is a gorram graveyard." She turns to Morgaine with a slightly surprised look. "You reckon?"


Tyr shrugs his shoulders. "Doubt they're settling," says Tyr. "More usin' it for business. Just a warehouse out of the way, s'all."


Morgaine answers "The gorram alliance did everything they could to insure nothing existed here, seeing it rise again as cargo way station and business honors the spirits of our dead more than almost anything else we could." Sheseems to like the idea.


"Out of the way ain't the half of it," Saienne says to Tyr, with a lop-sided smile. "This place ain't on the way to anywhere." She taps out a few things on the PDA and then looks up to the pair of them. "'Scuse me a minute while I send this, an' all." She turns, then, and peers down into the screen. "Ms. Del'dova," she says, as quietly as is practical. "Just hopin' you have time this evenin' for a meetin' of some kind. I'd appreciate it if you'd wave me back when you have the opportunity." She taps the screen again and the blue glow fades. Morgaine's comment then causes her to look thoughtful. "You reckon?" she repeats.


Tyr shrugs his shoulders. "I guess," he says. "Looks more like a hide-away for an enterprise of questionable legality and all, but we'll see what we can do, huh?" he asks.


Morgaine seems to be seriously in agreement, "We fought for the right to live free, to make our own way without the interference from the Alliance and their tyrranical ways." She has fervent beliefs "and to make shadow live again after they destroyed it, honors our dead and keeps up the spirit of what we fought for. It is so appropriate that a Shadow Class ship brought the start of that here." She speaks the name of a ship class that no one generally admits existed. "A legality defined by the alliance."


"Well, it surely wouldn't be in our best interests to have hotfooted it out here, only to turn around an' hotfoot it back again with nothin' at all to show for our pains - although I ain't forgettin' the credits sittin' in our bank account already, I swear it." Saienne grins crookedly at Tyr. "So we'll see what she has to say, I reckon, an' then make our decision." She trails off as Morgaine says her part. As the older woman is talking, Saienne slips her PDA into her coat pocket. "Even if it's the Feds makin' it live?" Saienne asks, in a quiet tone. She shakes her head, and looks down at the deck. "Ah, pay me no mind. I am so far beyond dwellin' on it."


"Yeah. I left the five hundred credits that were the rest of our pay for you," explains Tyr with a quirked grin. "Glad you found them all right and all." He winks at Sai. "So. We'll get some more jobs, do some more things."


Morgaine says in English, "I haven't seen any feds here yet?"


"Oh, don't you fret none, Tyr. I'm like a gorram bloodhound when it comes to sniffin' out dollars an' credits." She grins crookedly again. "An' I reckon we'll pick somethin' up from Ms. Del'dova. Just got me a good feelin'." Morgaine's words cause Sai's grin to falter, and she looks out at Shadow's star-specked nigth sky again. "Not yet," she says, a little grimly. "But it's only a matter of time, ain't it? They ain't able to leave nothin' alone for long."


"Yeah. Well. I'll be just as happy once we're back on the established space lanes again. Maybe back at Persephone or some place like that." Tyr grins to himself for some reason. "Though Sinhon sure was some place."


Morgaine glances at Tyr, "Persephone has things to recommed it but better to go where the money is."


"Weren't it, though?" Saienne asks, of Sihnon - but she's agreeing. "Saw things in that market I really wasn't sure were real. Kohl rabi an' I got this bag of multi-coloured peppercorns..." She pauses, pats another of her coat pockets - which rustles - and frowns an irritated frown. "Good gorram, an' here they are still!" She pulls a little paper bag out of the pocket. "Meant to put these in the galley for Josephine." She peers at the bag a second or two, then puts it back in her pocket. "No matter." She nods up tp Tyr - and to Morgaine. "Back to the Border, at least, if not the Core for a little while." She squints and glances upwards, as if she can see through the decks and the bulkhead to the stars above. "Haven an' Lilac are closet, if I recall. Rim still - but not quite so cold an' lonely as Shadow."


Morgaine considers, "I am going to head out again now that I know you are waiting to talk to Lilith before taking off. I won't be far."


"Yeah. All right," says Tyr simply. "I'll letcha know if we're gonna be headed out, so you can hitch a ride on with us."


Saienne nods to Morgaine. "Well an' good," she says again. "I shouldn't imagine it'll be more than a few hours." Saienne then turns back to Tyr. "Don't fret none, Tyr. I don't doubt we'll see those shinin' towers again before long."

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[Vignette] A frosty exchange

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Cargo Bay, Grace O'Malley [Shadow]
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Morgaine has an almost unreadable expression on her face as she moves towards the exit ramp, heading out of the ship. She is dressed in her usual browncoat and scarf but there is more, she is wearing the rank insignia of a senior captain of the browncoats and her clothing look newly cleaned.


Saienne is standing in the newly emptied cargo bay, sweeping brush in hand. From the small mound of dust at her feet, it looks like she's been tidying up. The ramp down to Shadow is open, but Saienne has her back set to it. As Morgaine enters the hold and walks so as to leave the ship, Sai looks up from her work. "Evenin'," she says, evenly, as she takes in the other woman's freshly cleaned clothes and insignia. "Cold out there."


Morgaine answers softly, "colder inside" though it isn't exactly clear inside what she is refering to. "I need to be outside and there are things I have to do." Her eyes are almost haunted as she continues her walk.


Saienne does not turn to track Morgaine's progress. She remains bent over her broom, intent on scrutinising the hold's deck for dust, with her back resolutely to the planet outside. "I ain't stoppin' you," she says, although her voice is slightly muffled. "You got an icomm or somethin'? I'll put a call out for you if we're thinkin' on leavin'."


Morgaine shakes her head, "Last one broke and I didn't have the funds for a new one. Some of us aren't part of ship crews or have sources of income." She continues a few steps and then pauses right at the top of the ramp, "I doubt I will be going far, there isn't much left or many places to go."


"No," says Saienne, shortly. "There ain't." She tilts her head just the slighest amount towards the open bay doors. "Well, I'll come lookin' for you, then." A pause, and a bit of a frown creases the crowsfeet around her eyes. "Just you be careful, an' all. There's a little more activity down there than I was expectin'." She straightens fully, leaning against the brush, and finally turns to regard Shadow's cold darkness, Morgaine's figure framed by it. "Black market folks," she says, by way of explanation. Her frown deepens and she squints into the night. "They ain't friendly."


Morgaine pulls her coat to the side for the moment and her pistol gleams, "Let them give me a reason." The once captain is not in a friendly mood this day appearantly. She then steps out on the ramp, heading down.


Saienne watches placidly as Morgaine flashes her pistol. "Because one more corpse on Shadow ain't goin' to tip the balance in either direction, is that so?" She speaks in a very calm voice, her tone barely inflected at all. Bending back to her sweeping, she shakes her head a little sadly. The only sound now is the regular swishing of her broom and the sound of boots on the ramp.

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[Log] The things we lost

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Dorsal Observation, Grace O'Malley [Sihnon]
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Early evening finds Saienne standing alone on Grace's observation deck. She has positioned herself at the port side of the dome and is looking down at the Sihnon docks - and whatever she can see beyond that. She is dressed simply - a pair of dark trousers, many-pocketed, and a once-white shirt that has definitely seen better days. Although her face is mostly turned away from the stairs back down to the lower deck, what can be seen of her expression suggests a pensive frown. One hand rests lightly on the back of one of the leather chairs; the other cradles a small tumbler of something intoxicating.


"Hey. Sai. You okay?" Tyr pokes his head up into the Obs Deck, greeting their skipper with a small smile. "I got the cargo offloaded, those low tech knick-knacks we were haulin'."



"Ain't you a treasure?" Saienne asks, turning to Tyr with a genuine smile. As she turns, any hint of worry in her face dissolves. "An' the handover went well, an' all? No one tried skimmin' nothin' off the top?" She pauses, but only for breath. "Because some of the customs folks here in the Core ain't inclined to settle for the offical Alliance tax rate... They'll stick you for an extra dollar every gorram time."


Tyr smiles a little. "C'mon, Sai. Even a country boy got a bit of gile in him." He bumps up against her side teasingly, giving her a small grin. "Watcha drinkin' there?"


Saienne tilts her glass in Tyr's direction, saluting him. Her smile twists into her familiar crooked grin. "It is so," she says, agreeing with him. "An' my apologies for underestimatin' your sneakiness, an' all." A beat. "So how much did you persuade him in the other direction?" The grin is a teasing one and she takes a step or two towards him. "Just some brandy I picked up on Santo. It ain't bad. You're welcome to join me, if you fancy."


Tyr smiles and takes on up a glass, pouring himself a drink. "I got us all we were supposed to get," he says with a small grin. "A nice profit. And then we'll get out to Shadow and drop off this cargo and get us our other five hundred credits, huh?"


"Well, hell," Saienne says. "Can't ask better than that, can I?" She steps a little closer, booted feet muffled by the thick blue carpet here. She offers her glass for a top up, and then tips it so that it can meet Tyr's own with the melodic chime of fine crystal. "Here's to profit, then. An' keepin' things movin'." She knocks back a bit of the brandy and nods.


Tyr raises his glass. "To profit," he agrees. "And you know. I ain't in this for the money, Sai, but it'd be nice to be able to make some money so we don't keep gotta worrying constantly about money, you know?" He grins a little.


Saienne looks around at the interior of the Grace O'Malley. The size of her; her shape. "Tyr, I don't reckon as there's a day'll go by when we ain't worryin' about money in regards to this boat." She shakes her head. "Just sittin' here, she's burnin' through credits like... well, like the paper they're printed on." She takes a more measured sip of her brandy - it's strong stuff, from the Rim, but it's aromatic and deep as well - and frowns again, the wrinkles on the bridge of her nose pinching. "It's just the way of things, ain't it? An' we ain't got Maxwell's reserves to fall back on no more, neither." Her voice softens. "But I know you ain't in it for the money." A beat. "Me neither - an' no one else on board, I'll warrant."


Tyr nods his head a little. "This is gonna sound kinda funny, Sai. And I don't mean it as a knock on Ara at all, because she was a great skipper; took good care of me." He sips from his drink. "I -- well. I feel more connected to this boat and all you guys than I ever have before."


Morgaine emerges into the observatory at a slow pace and looks around carefully. She hasn't actually spent much time up here but as this is a core world, she is not going to head out onto the planet much and she needs a change of pace. She nods towards the two already present as she heads for the bar to see what is present.


Saienne swills her glass so that the amber liquid within it forms a tiny whirlpool, rising in golden waves up the cut crystal and only falling back when she halts the motion. She nods slowly. "I can understand what you're sayin', Tyr." She looks up from her glass and stares into the middle distance. "I reckon it's maybe on account of us all havin' to... pull together, I expect. It ain't like any of us knew what was comin' - not even Josephine an' Lucinda, I think." She pauses long enough to bring one long-fingered hand up to scratch at the stubble on the back of her scalp. "Aradia was - is, I expect - entirely capable." A beat. "We spent a couple of weeks - all of us - scrabblin' to catch up where she left off." She sniffs, then; and, letting her hand drop, knocks back the last of the brandy. "An' don't you fret none about the money, neither. We got enough to keep flyin' an' keep from starvin'." Saienne turns as she hears feet on the stairs. Seeing Morgaine emerge from the deck below, she lifts her glass in a salute. "Evenin', Morgaine. Fancy a brandy?" She looks across at the bottle balanced on the bar top. "It ain't half bad - right, Tyr?"


"That's good," says Tyr with a small smile. "Because, you know, I enjoy eating." He winks over at Sai and then takes a sip of his brandy. "Yeah. It's good stuff, Morgaine. Have a sip."


"Don't we all!" Saienne says, in respect to eating. "So much so I'm plannin' on headin' out to the market before Ms. Del'dova's friend joins us to pick some things up. They got herbs an' spices here don't ever make it out to Persephone, let alone some of the other rocks we seem to end up on." She puts her now-empty glass down on the bar top. "Reckon I might look for some seeds an' all. It's about time we started growin' things - we got the technology down there in the hold, just waitin' to be put to good use."


Morgaine pours herself a shot of whiskey and drinks it down before pouring herself another to drink more slowly. She looks at Saienne, "Hopefully we can have a full hold of cargo to take with us to make a profit for the Shadow onwards to whereever leg. I didn't realize that there was anything left on Shadow. There wasn't the last time I was there."


"There isn't that much anymore," says Tyr with a shake of his head. "So it's not like there's anything for us to take out there."


"There still ain't," Saienne says to Morgaine, with an uneasy shrug. "Far as I know it, anyhow." There is a little frown. "An' as far as I can make it out, there ain't no one on Shadow who wants to buy anythin', neither. An' I took a real long look. Nothin'." A beat. "So we ain't takin' cargo - but as sure as the six hells are all manner of unpleasant, we'll be takin' the slow route back to Persephone." She nods as Tyr speaks. "An' I really ain't sure I want to know why our passengers want to go all that way." Another shake of her head. "I ain't plannin' on stickin' around to find out, neither. We do our job; we take our money; we high-tail it off that shiver-inducin' place."


Morgaine shakes her head, "I can't just high tail it off there, if I am going there, then I hope to have a short time to spend praying for the dead and comrades of mine that died on that world. I haven't been to shadow since shortly before it was flattened and there are a lot of memories for me there among the ghosts."


Tyr nods his head in agreement with Sai. "We're just providin' a service," agrees the cargohand. He goes to perch himself on a seat, looking over at Morgaine, quizzically.


Saienne looks uneasily at Morgaine. "I ain't lingerin' there." She says, bluntly. "An' it's best you know that before we get there, if the place is important to you." She slips both of her hands into her pockets and frowns again. "I ain't entirely insensitive to folks' need to grieve, an' by all means you may pay your respects if the job requires that we touch dirt for more than five minutes, but..." She shakes her head, adamant, and her dark eyes are suddenly hard. "I ain't lingerin'." There is a pause, and she softens just the slighest bit. "You... ain't the only one with memories."


Tyr smiles a little bit at Sai, a small little smile. He places his hand on her shoulder. He doesn't have any memories, so, well, he comforts instead.


Morgaine nods, "Too many of us lost too many on Shadow, Persephone and more. I was based out of Shadow though for the first three years of the war. It will be hard to come back there."


Saienne nods briskly, looking down at the thick blue carpet. "Well," she says, considering - and her voice is slow with thought. "I ain't promisin' nothin', but if we get time on the ground, I'll try an let it be long enough to be meaningful." Tyr's hand on her shoulder causes her to look up and around in surprise; but her look is soon softened by a lop-sided smile. "Shadow, Persephone... Hera, an' all." A beat. A dark frown. "Boros."


Tyr really has nothing to say to this. So he just drinks and remains as a presence.


Morgaine looks at Sai, "The only memories of Boros I have is stopping there because of major engine troubles and not being able to get the Grainne Ni Mhaille completely overhauled off the ground before the Alliance showed up in force. The best I could do was get my crew out among the population and safe from Alliance hands."


"Well, yes, the folks on Boros were good at hidin' Browncoats, I do recall." She leans back against the bar. "Boros is my home, Morgaine." She says, by way of explanation. "An' it really weren't a comfortable place to be durin' the War, what with Ares floatin' around overhead an' the Iskellkian yards all gleamin' with half-built Alliance cruisers..." She trails off. "Ah, hell." She says. "This ain't even important now. Ten years, won't it be, in a few days? Ten gorram years!" She reaches for the bottle of brandy. "Tyr, you fancy some more?" She looks direct at him, then, and realises how young he really is. "Ah, Tyr, I surely am sorry. This must seem like so much ancient history to you, an' all."


Tyr holds out his glass. "Sure," says Tyr with a nod of his head. "And it's all right. I'm jus' listenin. Not much to say about it all, really."


Morgaine downs her whiskey and goes back for a third shot, a double, "It was a raid on ares actually that got the ship damaged. We managed to get away and then the engine failed. We managed to get it going weakly and snuck back in a round about manner to land on boros to try to do more repairs and the engine nearly totally fell apart. We had it about three quarters the way rebuilt when the alliance managed to figure out the ship was there. She was a grand ship. Same name as this one actually though using what I was told was the original Irish version of the name. Not sure who the Irish were though.


"Weren't your folks involved, one side or another?" Saienne asks Tyr, pouring him another generous measure. "Oh, good gorram. That ain't none of my business, I reckon." She listens then to Morgaine's story, nodding her head a little. "I do believe me an' Daniel had already high-tailed it by the time you an' yours hit the dirt." She wrinkles her nose. "I recall Maire sayin' somethin', but you know how communications were back then... I reckon it weren't in our area, anyhow." She nods, a little surprised, as Morgaine mentions the name of her ship. "Is that so? Well, someone at Moretti had a sense of humour about them, evidently."


Tyr shakes his head. "We weren't for nothin' in particular, except keepin' our land and livestock, as much as I reckon," says Tyr. "We'd rather be left alone, but we didn't exactly have a sid,e"


Morgaine says in English, "It was the alliance thieves that forced me to join the independants. A greedy customs inspector on Ariel confiscated my cargo because he could so he could sell it for himself and the law gave no recourse to a poor border merchant ship like mine. It happened a second time on Bernadette and I was just arriving back to Persephone from that trip when news of alliance's declaration they ruled all came and thus I was one of the first to join the brown coats. My father and I put all six of our ships in the service of the cause, all gone now. Even after winning, they haven't improved any.""


Saienne nods to Tyr. "Well, oftentimes I wonder if that weren't the wisest course of all." She listens to Morgain again. "Well, that don't sound like a bundle of laughs." She shakes her head. "An' no, they ain't." A pause. "They really ain't." Saienne knocks back the last of her brandy. "Anyhow, I should get myself belowdecks an' see if there's any word on whoever it is we're supposed to be pickin' up." She sets the glass down again on the bar. "Don't you two go drinkin' us dry, an' all." She she steps off towards the steps down to the bridge companionway, soon vanishing from view.


Tyr waves his glass slightly. "I can't get too sauced, Sai. We do, after all, have some work to do." He winks over at the Cap'n and then gives her a wave as she heads on down.


Morgaine downs her third whiskey and nods. "I do have some reading to do as well." She seems almost melancholy from the topic of discussion. "it is too easy to get lost in drink thinking about the past."

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[Log] Let them eat cake!

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Eavesdown Docks, Persephone
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Beckett is hanging about outside the Dragon, doing her usual job of tinkering with, and adjusting the landing struts. But she's keeping a healthily paranoid eye out as well.


Eavesdown is a place full of the healthily paranoid, and Saienne, disembarking from the Grace O'Malley, is just one more face added to their number. The skies above the docks are dark, but the ground itself is illuminated by the lights from the many ships berthed here. Saienne ambles down the ramp, her canvas satchel slung across one shoulder and her large and slightly daft hat crammed down on her head. She pauses in the dust at the foot of the ramp to look around, cautiously.


Beckett yawns, and stretches, hands pressing against the small of her back as she tries to work out a kink or two. Apparently done with her current project, she starts gathering tools, but pauses when she starts noticing movement from various ships. She peers over, shading her eyes with a hand.


Saienne's eyes alight on the Dark Dragon, her grey-black hull curving up and away out of the gaudy Eavesdown light towards the greater darkness. She frowns, squinting in the artificial light towards the figure stretching there. "Well, hell," she mutters, trying hard to make the figure out. "That surely ain't Dora..." A pause, and she takes a few steps fowards, towards the Dragon. The feather in her hat bobs and ducks with the motion, and she calls out: "Beckett? That you lurkin' over there?"


Matty comes to the hatch of the Chaos Theory and leans on the frame, looking out over the busy as ever Docks with a bottle in one hand. Then she starts her way down the ramp, a bit wobbly and makes it all the way down without incident, only the trip on the step from the ramp to the dirt. She stumbles forward and curses loudly before eyeing a nearby cargo crate that seems a likely target for leaning on.


Beckett peers back, then grins, wandering closer. "Well, good gorram, if it ain't Saienne," she says with a laugh. "I'd know that hat anywhere. There a shindig and someone forgot to tell me? Seems like everyone's in town."


Josephine stands at the top of Grace's cargo ramp, holding in her hands a very large plate with an equally large dome-shaped cover. The ensemble must be particularly heavy, because the woman is struggling to keep her hold. Eventually, and with a great sigh of relief, she sets the plate down upon a crate and massages her hands. "C'est comme il y du plomb de dans..must be the plate," she mutters, to herself, mixing languages in her frustration.


Saienne grins crookedly back at the woman, closing the gap between them quickly. She shakes her head. "Nothin' I know of," she replies, regarding the probability of a shindig. "But ain't it so that we always seem to meet when there's dancin' an' drinkin'?" She gets close enough to hold out a hand to Beckett, in way of greeting, when the sound of a stumble and a loud curse from nearby the Chaos Theory causes her to turn around. "Who in the six hells is that?" She asks, quick to frown. She squints in the other direction now, until Matty's figure resolves into something familiar. "Matty?" She asks; then glances up to Josephine, standing at the top of the ramp. Her crooked grin returns. "I reckon this here's our shindig, Beckett..."


Matty makes it to her cargo crate and drops down on top of it, craning her neck to look over her shoulder as she hears Josephine's voice. She raises a hand to wave at the woman, but since it's the hand holding the bottle, she just ends up shaking that instead. "Hi, Jose," she calls, louder than necessary, then turns a bit at Saienne's voice and shakes the bottle at her. "Hi to you too, Sai. They make you captain yet?"


Beckett takes the hand briefly, giving it a quick, warm squeeze of greeting, and releases when Saienne's attention is caught by the commotion. She grins, wryly. "No kiddin'? Well, looks like there's certainly drinkin' involved, at the very least. Which is excuse enough for a little fun. Good seein' you, whatever the reason."


"Well, blast it, Matty..you went and got all drunk already...what's in that bottle? Or what /was/ in it, more like?" Josephine takes a deep breath, picks up the heavy plate and hauls it the rest of the way over to a crate close to where Matty is...resting. "You're not going to throw up on me, are you?" she asks, eyeing the woman sternly. "I made you a cake. And, no I didn't tell anyone." She waves cheerfully over to Saienne and also to Beckett whom she doesn't really know, but why not wave and be friendly?


Saienne tilts her head back towards Beckett. "Ain't it though? Where you an' yours been hidin', anyway? Out beyond the Rim, or somesuch?" Although her questions are asked in jest, there is some kernel of seriousness to her tone. "I heard you had some trouble, an' all." She pauses and frowns down at the red dust at her feet. "Thought to send you a wave, but..." A shrug, and a lop-sided smile. "Didn't want to pry, an' all." She waves back in the direction of Matty and Josephine. "Just about, Matty, although it ain't formal or nothin'. An' it's actin', ain't it? Until..." She trails off and glances at Josephine. "There is cake? Why is there cake?"


"This? 's vodka," Matty explains and looks at the bottle with a pair of squinted eyes, trying to measure how much is left. Which would be about a quarter. "'n no one was 'round so I figured I might 's well get the party started, y'know? 'twas gettin' late..." She sniffs and refocuses her eyes on Josephine, straightening a bit with a surprised look. "You.. You made cake? For me?" she continues, her eyes brimming with moisture. She sniffs and swallows a lump. "I thought everyone'd fergotten..."


Beckett shrugs lazily at Saienne. "Feel free to send me a wave anytime. I'm tryin'a work on improvin' my people skills. Last week, I only caused one fight, one mental meltdown, and one spontaneous conversion to athiesm," she adds, voice teasing. "We've been all 'round, runnin' cargo and whores and stuff from one place to the next. Tryin'a stay outta trouble. Mostly. And not get blown up or anything." She nods amiably to Josephine, and peers at Matty. "So we got cake, booze, and four women on the Docks. Good to go."


"People can't forget something they didn't know about," Josephine chastizes. "But I didn't forget. Look," she says, lifting the dome shaped lid from the cake plate. "Chocolate. Just for you! I do hope you like chocolate. I couldn't remember if you did or didn't, for the life of me. But I made it with love." The cake indeed looks made with love, for there is chocolate frosting and chocolate chips and white chocolate hearts, all arranged in an artistic if mildly-chaotic fashion. She smiles and leans over to kiss the drunk woman's cheek, while deftly relieving her of her quarter bottle of vodka. "Happy Birthday, dear Matty," she murmurs, before announcing, more loudly, to the others, "It's Matty's Birthday! Come see this cake!"


"Reckon I might," Saienne says, with another smile - which shifts seamlessly into a delighted grin as Beckett describes what's been going on. "Is that so? Only one conversion? Well, plenty of time to increase your score, ain't there?" She ferrets around in her satchel for a second or two, before pulling out a slender-necked dark bottle and brandishing it like a club. "I got brandy," she says, raising her voice so it carries the short distance to Matty and Josephine. "To add to our assets." As Josephine swipes the vodka from Matty's hand, however, Saienne rather hurriedly lowers her own bottle. "Or... I can put it away an' we can eat cake instead." She glances to Beckett. "Cake?"


"Hey there," Matty says and raises the bottle to Beckett, giving her a broad smile. "Beckett, right? Not so much booze, 'm 'fraid. I drunk most of it, already." She brandishes the bottle again, showing what little is left, at which point the bottle is suddenly gone from her hand. Of course, by now, her attention is rather more taken by the cake made by Josephine and her eyes grow wide as she studies it. "Wow! That's.. I.." She gets to her feet, unsteadily and gathers Josephine in a hug, then whispers to her. "Thank you."


Beckett chuckles lowly with amusement. "I'm not allowed to make folks cry or terrorize religious types anymore. Or threaten people on the Docks who approach me without warning. They're takin' away all my fun." She hmmms. "Happy Birthday, Matty," she offers up helpfully. "Gorram, nice lookin' cake. I reckon I wouldn't say no to somethin' sweet."


Josephine uses that hug to make sure Matty doesn't tip over and fall down. But the woman's actually grinning for the first time since...well, in many days now. "You're very welcome." She deftly tries to pass off the vodka bottle to Saienne so it's out of the picture. "Of course, if I'd known we were eating out here, I would have brought plates and stuff... Not that I'd have enough hands to manage it all. Where's Tyr when I need him? Well, actually it was Saienne who used to help me out lots in the galley before she went and found herself with a whole lot more piled on her head..isn't that so?" She tends to enjoy imitating Saienne's speech patterns, but never does get it quite right. "You are Beckett?" she asks the woman she doesn't know. "I'm Josephine. Maker of Cakes, among other things. I don't suppose you've brought any plates, yourself?"


"Surely not all your fun?" Saienne asks Beckett, with the emphasis falling solidly on the world 'all'. She takes the few steps over towards Josephine and Matty, grabbing the vodka bottle as Josephine intended. For a moment, she holds the two bottles up in front of her indecisively before stuffing the brandy back in her satchel and balancing the vodka on a nearby crate, out of Matty's view. "It is so," she agrees. "I did the choppin'." Saienne explains, of her galley role. "An' on occasion the washin' up." She smiles fondly at Josephine and peers down at the cake. "Don't that look all kinds of delicious?"


"I love chocolate, Jose," Matty says, finally, and lets go of the little woman, raising a hand to wipe tears off her cheeks. "'n that one looks really fantas--tastic." She sways a bit and looks down on the cake, then shakes her head at the question of plates. Good thing the vodka was swiped too. Vodka and chocolate really don't go together. She looks over at Saienne and grins. "It does, don't it? Anyone gonna get plates or are we gonna eat with our fingers?"


Beckett tosses Josephine a lazy kind of salute in acknowledgment. "Robin Beckett, engineer for the Dragon," she says in response. "Seen you around a bit, here and there. How's Tyr? Nice farmboy, glad I didn't break him too much last time I saw him." She grins brightly at Saienne. "Just means I gotta find new kinds of fun, or resurrect old ones. That's what happens when a person like me doesn't have a love life to distract them from makin' mischief." She looks around. "I ain't got any plates lyin' around either."


Josephine keeps one arm around Matty if she's going to be swaying like that. "I /do/ recall seeing you around, before..and with Ms. Saienne here, to top. It's nice to actually be properly introduced. I suppose I'm Grace's Cook..and then some..." she eyes Saienne uncertainly for a moment. "I don't really know. But I do a significant amount of cooking. Tyr's just fine..how did you almost break him, anyway?" She eyes everyone, collectively, "Oh fine, I'll go back and get plates, I suppose. And probably a pitcher of milk. And napkins. And..anything else?"


"Tyr's nice," Matty agrees, nodding at Beckett with a grin and is about to raise her bottle in a toast when she realises that it's gone. She frowns and gives a look around without seeing it, then turns to Josephine with a firm nod. "I'll help. 's my cake, after all.. Milk is nice too. Milk 'n chocolate. That's nice."


Beckett grins at Jo. "Oh, silly boy danced with me a bit at a shindig a while back, round the time he joined up with you all, and I had to push him away before he got attached. I'm way too rough on people, y'know? Plus, I don't much put up with farmboys. I need someone who can keep up with me, head me off at the pass, and race me to the finish line."


"I seem to recall," Saienne says dryly, of Beckett and Tyr's last meeting, "That you an' he did some dancin'." A beat. "An' I got declined, an' all." She chuckles, a low rich sound, and shakes her head. "But I ain't held it against him." She grins crookedly at Beckett, and then laughs a little as she makes her comments on the affair. "Is that so?" She asks. Looking to Matty, Saienne says: "Fingers, no. Too gorram messy an' I got some errands to run before we head skywards. Chocolate under the fingernails don't make no kind of good impression." Saienne nods to Josephine. "Right hand woman, I reckon." She says, into the face of the younger woman's uncertainty. "A significant amount of cookin' - an' a significant amount of lookin' after folk in all manner of other ways, an' all." She shakes her head at Josephine. "I'll dash up the galley an' bring us some. Ain't no bother. Need a knife an' all?" And so she does as she says - trotting briskly towards Grace's ramp and up it; vanishing into the hold; and appearing some minutes later, her hands quite full with a small pile of plates and napkins, a jug of milk and an enamel mug, some cake forks (of all things!), and a knife. "Never could say a word against Maxwell in regards to fixtures an' fittings." Saienne says as she returns, slightly breathless, and brandishes a cake fork at Josephine.


Josephine laughs a bit then. "Oh, that /was/ you, wasn't it? Tyr's a real sweetheart, through and through. He'll find the right sort of girl for him one of these days, I'm sure..probably around when he stops looking quite so hard." She was just about contemplating whether or not it was worth the effort of dragging Matty /while/ carrying plates and knives and milk and forks and so on... when Saienne takes the initiative herself. "Woh, woman! You can poke someone's eye out with that thing!" she warns, but jovially, about the brandished cake fork. "I didn't even know we had cake forks," she muses... "How splendid. Thanks, Sai."


"Ain't no bother," Saienne repeats, placing the stack of items carefully down on the crate next to the cake. "An' if we've got a... what's it called? Passoir? Then why not cake forks, an' all?" She nods as Josephine speaks of Tyr. "Reckon I might take him with me next time I go lookin' to make a deal." A pause; a crooked grin. "Put his sweet farmboy image to good use, an' all."


"Hey.. Where'd Sai go?" Matty says, not realising that she'd gone and not made an effort of her own to head up the ramp of either Grace or Theory. She looks around, spots the vodka in the process, but doesn't go for it, then grins widely at Josephine. "Yer a really good friend, Jose... What the heck's a passoir?" The last bit, aimed at Saienne, of course.


Beckett shakes her head with a amusement, informing Saienne on her return, "Anyone turnin' down a dance with you's a fool. Hey, watch there you point that thing." She grins at Josephine. "I thought Tyr would do well with wassername, the Ferret Girl." Then shr shrugs, adding, "But what do I know?"


"It's for making soup and stuff," Josephine explains, without going into great detail, since no one is likely to really care. "And you're a really good friend too, Matty. That's why I made you a cake, after all. Here..you sit on this crate, just like..this.." she says, helping the woman to sit down nearby, assuming her player agrees. "And I'll see to the cake." She does just that, cutting it up into generous slices and distributing the pieces around. "Nice and fluffy," the cook notes, gleefully. "And, Beckett, of all the many and fascinating things there are to try in this Verse, matchmaking is so far from being on the list of things I ever want to do that...well, I just really don't want to get involved. People can make their own (mis)matches perfectly well without outside intervention, I noticed."


"Ask the cook," Saienne replies to Matty, gesturing at Josephine. "I still ain't got a clear idea. Ain't pretty to look at, mind, an' I reckon it could do somethin' nasty to your fingers if you weren't careful..." Saienne looks solemnly at Beckett, dark eyes cool and serious in the shadow of her had. "That so?" She asks. "Well, I reckon I'll remember that for next time." She snaps to Josephine's attention as she explains the passoir and begins to hand out the cake. "Oh, matchmakin'. One of my mother's favourite hobbies - an' Maire's an' all." She takes the offered plate with a grateful smile and slight incline of her head. "Mayhap it's a small town thing, but you'd think she'd know better, what with the way our family's turned out!"


"Ferret girl? You mean Tani? Tani had a ferret," Matty says, looking over at Beckett with her head tilted a bit and a brow raised. "Tani's a pirate. Tyr shouldn't date a pirate." Even though she's thouroughly drunk and slurring her words, it's quite obvious that she doesn't much like this Tani. She turns to Josephine, blinking as if she's forgotten the question the other woman just answered and simply gives a slow nod. "Sit? Yeah.. Sittin's good. Thanks, Jose," she says and accepts cake, giving it a good look before digging into it. Taking a bite, the drunk woman goes quiet, closes her eyes and just sits back to let the flavours roll around in her mouth.


Beckett digs into her share of cake gleefully. "This is pretty gorram good," she declares happily. "Almost better'n sex, in its own way. You done good, Jo." She nods to Saienne. "Oh yeah. Take notes. I am full'a good wisdom."


Hase comexsout of ther Dragon and stops just at the top of the ramp. He looks around and starts to watch for any signs of trouble at the moment but he is calm looking and relaxed. Still that don't mean that wearing his armor and his lduster that he feels that all rotected.


Josephine eyes a forkful of cake speculatively. "Almost better than sex?" she considers as if not quite sure what to make of that observation, although it sure as anthing sounds like a compliment. She tastes her own creation, looking thoughtful. "This isn't half bad.." she muses, when she can do so politely.


Saienne reaches over to pat Matty lightly on the shoulder in what is meant to be a comforting manner. "Don't you fret none, Matty. I don't reckon they're datin' at present. I reckon we would have noticed a girl with a ferret sneakin' aboard." She moves back, fork full of cake poised, regards Beckett. "Don't you fret, neither." A pause. "I surely am takin' notice." She falls silent then and munches her way quickly through the cake, looking thoughtful. As she finishes her last mouthful, she sets her plate down on the crate and looks between the trio of women. "Matty, I hate to leave your party - an' this cake - early, an' all, but I really do have to run this errand before we get goin'." A crooked grin. "An' the night is scootin' swiftly by." She roots around in her satchel again and pulls out the bottle of brandy. She holds it out to Beckett. "Reckon you might like this?" She says.


Matty sits on a crate, surrounded by three other woman, all of them eating delicious chocolate cake. "Half bad? Yer kiddin', Jose. This is the best cake I've ever had," she says and takes another bite, letting it roll on her tongue as if insisting on melting it, rather than chewing it. She gives a glance over at Beckett at her comment and grins mischievously and nods in agreement. She looks up at Saienne and frowns a bit, shaking her head quietly. "Wouldn't be so sure. Tani's pretty gorram good at sneakin'." She takes another bite of cake, again enjoying it to the fullest, then nods to Sai again. "No worries, Sai. Didn' even expect t' have a party in th' firs' place, y'know."


Beckett beams at Saienne. "I reckon I might, but a good bottle of booze ain't much good without someone to share with. You hang onto it, and we'll split it next time we meet, if you like. After you run your errands, whenever our paths cross, whatever. Wave me, we'll figure somethin' out." She's touched, most people don't think to bribe her with brandy. "Sad truth is, I gotta get some work done myself, so I can't hang around much at the moment," she says apologetically to her other companions. "Great party, great cake, good enough company."


Josephine taps her portable comm unit with her finger. "Let me know if you need anything, Sai. Or if you get lost trying to find your way back or anything," she adds, with a faint, warm smile. "Plus, if you remember to give me advanced notice, when you expect to be back, I'll even put the kettle on in anticipation of your arrival. Be safe, you hear?" She seems to take immense satisfaction from Matty's obvious enjoyment of her gift. "Ah....well, seems that everyone is running off to some place or another. It was good to meet you Robin Beckett. I'm sure it will happen again, too. Seems fairly inevitable, what with you and Saienne taking such a liking to one and other.. Matty, there's a big glob of chocolot on your jacket, did you see?" She's already passing over a cloth napkin.


Hase after a while he does come down the ramp and is also carrying a chair with him, once at the bottom he takes a seat after unfolding it and then relaxes some. Looking at the woman gathered he can't help but watch, interested in their conversation and their delited looks after taking in cake. He licks his lips unexxpected like , it's been a while since he had some but stays where he is and placing his bag beside him.


"You reckon she'd get past Hatch?" Saienne asks Matty, with a lop-sided smile. "Not for long, I reckon. Anyhow, I'll try an' drop by before we leave. Say my goodbyes an' thank yous to you an' Sujiko." She turns back to Beckett and looks a little regretfully at the brandy. "Well an' good," she says, nodding. "I'll keep ahold of it until then." She tucks the bottle back into her satchel. "You take care of you an' yours, Beckett." A pause. "An' don't work too hard, neither." Josephine's comments cause her to grin outright. "A welcomin' cup of tea. Ain't you somethin'!" The grin fades to a smile. "I ain't expectin' to be gone longer than an hour. I reckon you can send out the search parties if I am." And, so saying, she steps off in the direction of spacers' district, soon vanishing into the bustle of Eavesdown's very early morning crowd.


"Thanks fer joinin' the party, Beckett," Matty says and gives a nod, smiling at the woman and perhaps eyeing the brandy a little, but Josephine soon has her attention diverted with chocolote on her jacket. She looks down and frowns, shaking her head. "Gorramit. Blood, rips, chocolate. This ol' jacket's been through the ringer." She takes the cloth napkin and is about to wipe off the chocolate when she notices that it's a /cloth/ napkin. "This is too good t' be wiping stuff off with. I'll use some paper towels when I get back on board," she complains and hands the napkin back to Josephine, looking over at Saienne as she does so, calling after the woman as she goes. "See ya later, Sai. I'll pass that on t' Suj."

Read more...

[Log] 50% less rat shit...

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Eavesdown Docks, Persephone
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Lawson is sitting at one of the tent cafes, sipping a beer as he watches the crowd amble past. (for Saienne)


Saienne ambles down the ramp of the Grace O'Malley looking a little bleary-eyed and none too happy. She squints upwards towards the city, where the eastern sides of buildings are bathed with the soft glow of dawnlight. "Good gorram," she mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose with long fingers. "What in the six hells did I do to warrant bein' awoken at this godforsaken hour?" She is muttering to herself, clearly, but the gruff sound of her voice carries across the dock's quiet morning bustle.

Lawson smirks just a bit, stifling a yawn himself and taking another swig of the little cup that sort of passes for coffee.


Strian takes his seat back on the crate by the Dragon as he reaches it. Leaning his back up against the Dragon, as he watches the Docks, and looks at the morning bustle. Saienne's voice and words, cause a soft smile to appear on his lips. His blue eyes find Hase returning towards the Dragon, and the light up, maybe he'll get to visit with the crew today.


Hase moving along as he is, he spots a few people about that makes him look in their direction Sainne as she comes off the Grace and Lawson, sitting and relaxing perhaps. Then he spots the one individual sitting by the Dragon, his face easily turns from a relaxed way to a stern and mean looking, still the alertness in his eyes are obvious as he starts to look around, he becomes very cautious. Then reaching a few step to the ramp of the Dragon he stands like a wall there and looks at the man. " Hello."


Saienne finds herself soon standing in the red dust at the foot of the ramp. She steps up to the console that marks the Grace's berth on the dock and taps at it a few times. Her frown intensifies, and the crowsfeet at the edges of her eyes wrinkle deeply. "Hell's bells," She murmurs, squinting at the text as it scrolls past. "That ain't..." She pulls a shiny silver-skinned PDA out of her coat pocket and begins to tap on it, ignoring now the reams of information passing on the larger screen. She pauses, waiting, the PDA casting an eerie blue light on her face. Finally, it burbles once - cheerfully - and she looks down into it. "Finnegan?" She asks the PDA, quietly. "You anywhere near Eavesdown today?" The activity near the Dragon does not catch her attention at present - she only has eyes for the face at the other end of her wave.


Lawson watches as much as he can. Especially business near the ships. Just as it looks like something might occur, Saienne's voice spilts the silence neatly. His eyes sweep towards her, listening in without meaning to. He takes stock of the woman quietly, then tosses his empty cup into the trash barrel.


Strian looks up at Hase, and grins just abit, his eyes their dancing light blue. "Cara gave me the same welcome yesterday.. you would think you all would remember Mrizen, the man you all helped when he was just about dead," he says with the grin still on his face as he nods. "Good ta see you again, Hase.. It is Mrizen," he adds.


Saienne is speaking loudly and incautiously enough that it would be pretty difficult for anyone near her not to hear. "Well, hell no, Finnegan." Saienne says, somewhat heatedly, as she answers the unheard half of the conversation. "I ain't forgiven you - but that don't mean I ain't got need of your services." She frowns down into the screen and takes a step back into the shadow of Grace's shining hull. A quick and furtive glance upwards infers that she is beginning to think that the openness of Eavesdown is not the best place for her to be conducting such business. "Look," she mutters, into the PDA. "Wave me when you've woken up an' drunk some coffee." She taps something on the screen and the eerie blue glow fades. Saienne slips her PDA back into her coat pocket and finally gives the rest of Eavesdown the attention it deserves.


Lawson inhales sharply and then turns away when the woman starts to look around. Somewhat caught in the act, he can only offer a single slow nod and then he glances away. His fingers tap on the makeshift table and he feigns interest in the wanderings of some barkers not too far off.


Hase looks to the man and raises a brow. " Your alive, now that I am impressed, what you been up to if I may ask?"


Strian nods and says with a chuckle, "Ya.. I'm still alive.. ain't from a lack of people trying to kill me either." He shrugs, before saying, "Nothing much lately.. found a ship to crew on, and just been making me some money, workin' on this and that." Looking at him, he says, "What about you, how've you been?"


Saienne takes in, for the first time, the presence of the Dark Dragon on Eavesdown. "Well, hell." She mutters again, following the ship's black-grey curves and the painted line of her name. "Ain't that somethin'." She tears her gaze away from the Dragon and sweeps the rest of Eavesdown - somewhat suspiciously, truth be told. Her cool, dark eyes alight on Lawson, settling there for a moment or two before moving on: "Startin' to feel we've been sittin' here too gorram long..." She mutters.


Lawson offers the woman a snigle polite nod. He watches her as she starts to walk away, pondering something. He decides to speak before she's completely out of reach though. "Problems? Maybe a free cup of alledged coffee will help." He also kicks a chair out opposite himself.


Hase looks to the man and chuckles, knowing the history of the man. " So a ship to you in, good to know, your a swell guy but trouble always found you. Juat be glad your not on the dragon."


Strian nods once, before raising an eyebrow, "Why? Whats up with the Dragon.. if you all need some kind of help.. I already told Sink, that I'd be more then happy to help out."


"Free coffee?" Saienne asks, pausing in her steps and turning around as the chair is pushed out for her. She looks down at Lawson, a lop-sided half-smile showing, but suspicion still present in her dark eyes. "Ain't no such thing as free nothin', ain't it so?" But, she has paused now, and made eye contact, and it appears that her curiosity has been piqued. "So, if there's a 'free' coffee - alleged, or otherwise - involved in this offer... Well, that causes me to wonder..." A pause, as the smile expands to a wholly crooked grin. She puts one long-fingered hand on the back of her chair. "What's the gorram catch?"


Lawson shakes his head and holds his hands up in surredner,"No catch at all. You just look like you could use a cup of coffee." He pauses and then offers a lopsided smile,"Ok, I might also ask if you need any hands on your ship, but come on, your in Eavesdown."


Hase chuckles and then nods. " Well the captain is very well in charge of things, we have a group of individuals who are after us, for some odd reason and all I can say it's going to be a rogh ride for a couple of months. We nearly got ourselves blown up alittle while ago, a sacrificial lamb as you may say came to us and exploded, nearly taking me and a few others out."


Strian nods and says, "Well.. I can understand that.. I've got a man after me.. a matter of my having a conscious, and him not." Shrugging, he says, "Well.. I would love to talk with Sink.. and see if I can't get into his mind, that I don't mind helping you all.. least I can do."


Saienne laughs a little, inclining her head in agreement. "Ain't that the truth," she says, the grin fading just the merest amount. She pulls the chair out a bit further, and then settles into it, legs thrust out parallel to the table and crossed at the ankles. She settles one hand on the tabletop and observes Lawson carefully. "An' what is it you do, exactly, Mister...?" As the waiter comes by - although waiter is rather a posh word for the man loitering near their table. "Black coffee, an' as strong as you can make it." She smiles lop-sidedly back at Lawson. "Been one of those nights."


Lawson nods in complete understanding. He lets her get settled before he answers her question. "I drink coffee and fail to find work. My last job involved flying skiffs and shooting at people. You'd think there'd be a call for that, wouldn't you?"


Hase chuckles and shakes his head. " You have a man after you, man...look at it this way. We have trouble already and if you bring more our way, we may not like it to much. This group is not small and they use slaves as bombs, I know..I felt it." looking around he looks to the two having coffee, he watches them for a moment, making sure they are no threat at the moment and then back to the man infront of him. " Well if the captain says is alright, then it is, he is the boss."


Strian looks at him, and says, "Ya.. well.. the man after me.. isn't all that smart.. keeps sending in his own men, barely equiped.. they got a lucky shot on me last time, but that was mostly because I was talking with the ship's medic as we waited on some food."


"On Eavesdown? Without a gorram doubt." She shrugs her shoulders, a fluid motion more like a roll than anything else. "But folk ain't entirely settled at present, what with the recent... " Another shrug, less effusive this time. "Ah well. Flyin' skiffs an' shootin' at people? Is that so? Sounds dangerous." She pauses, and frowns. "Mayhap you just ain't been askin' the right people, is all."


Lawson shrugs and says,"That might be it. I haven't really gotten philosophical about it." He sips his own coffee reload and says,"So, you know, not to be gauche, but, you know anyone looking for a trained stick?' His eyes take in small details now. Mannerisms, gear, expressions, trying to get a feel for the woman.


Hase shakes his head and then sighs. " Well obviously you have not learned, you have someone after you, you keep one eye on the person your talking to and then the others looks for trouble." looking about the area again he can't help but look in the direction of the coffee drinkers. He frowns and then shakes his head, t. " I best think of work." he mumbles and then looks back to the man. " So, do you remember Dora..if you do well me and her are going out..well sort of..hard to talk to her when she is not around."


Strian nods and says, "Aye.. I remember Dora, mostly because her and Dora, were the only females on that ship, who didn't look at me and yell at my stupidity.. 'course.. the only other woman I saw on that ship was Beckett.. and thats all she did." He chuckles, before nodding, "Aye.. well.. I got my own girl now as well.. she's the engineer on my ship.. thinking I need to scare Beckett.. by announcing to her that my girl's pregnant, last time I talked with her, the thought of little Mrizen's made her nasous."


"Well, there ain't no use dwellin', sure enough." She considers Lawson carefully. "I might do," she concedes. "You got references or anythin'?" A pause. "Or weren't they that kind of skiff?" She pulls her coffee towards her and lifts the chipped white cup to her lips. She blows on the dark liquid to cool it, and the scent of fairly fresh coffee rises around her. "This don't smell as bad as I was expectin'," she murmurs, too quiet for the waiter to hear. "Never can tell down here."


Lawson nods and notes, "They use fifty percent less rat shit than other tent cafes." He then gives a heavy sigh and says,"Yes I have references, but mostly they just seem to piss people off on these parts. My side of the war was dressed in Purple, see? But me and them don't get along so much anymore. Nothing criminal, just a disagreement of terms."


It's amazingly what a man would do to not look surprised and Hase tries very hard to do that when he hears him state he got a girl pregnant, he scratches his balls. " Well, thats a mighty feat there, I ani't so lucky..not yet..not until I marry her..if she allows that ." he shrugs and looks about again, always laert, always ready for anything, almost as if you can sense the tenseness on Hase.


Strian shakes his head, "No.. no.. I ain't got her pregnant yet.. was going to tell Beckett that when I saw here, just to play a bit of a practical joke on her. I don't think her and I are ready for anything more then going out, at the moment." He shrugs, before smiling and saying, "Ahh.. well.. Dora has a good heart.. I'm sure you and her will find happiness."


Saienne purses her lips. Her own tattered brown coat says more about her allegiances than any speech could. "Well," she says, pausing before sipping the hot coffee. "The War's been over..." She pauses, looking up the sky to calculate. "Ten years, ain't it? Ten years this May? Like I said - it really ain't no use dwellin'. Any folks that do just ain't livin'." A pause and a crooked grin. "An' I'm all for livin'." She turns somber. "Sounds like you ain't in an entirely happy place - caught between the long-livin' fury of the Feds an' them Browncoats who just ain't able to let go."


Lawson flashes a sad smile and nods,"That's probably a fair assessment." He brightens though, and says with a much more cheerful tone,"But the fact is, I can still handle a ship, and I can still make it dance on a good day. So, if you do ever find yuorself in need, well, I'll probably be right around here some place."


Hase raises a brow and then nods slowly. " Look man, don't go bothering Beckett like that. Just telling you she has had it rough as of late. She almost got killed with that suicide slave bomb. She was very hurt and in bed for a long time. " then he breaths in and out, his chest rising, showing he is not a small man. " This is my family andBecket is part of it, sure me and her do not see eye to eye but it's my job to protect my family. She is meaner now if to let you know, she rightly hit you over the head with her wrench now if she does not know you and to tell you the truth...I did not trust you when first I seen you." looking about and then turning to go. " Look, I hate to make enemies but if you harm any of the crew of the Dragon and this goes to anyone , they are going to have to deal with me...I ain't pretty when it comes to paying anyone back for what they done."


Strian looks at Hase, and just shakes his head. "I didn't know all that, Hase.. and it was just gonna be a harmless joke, but I won't know." Breathing in abit, and just sitting there, calmly, "I ain't about to hurt the crew of the Dragon.. only crews in this 'Verse that I would hurt, would be those who fly under that gorram pirate's flag." Shrugging he says, "It was nice seein' you.. was hoping to have abit of a fun reunion with the crew.. why I was sitting out here.. wanted to catch up on some old times.. visit.. and just have a fun time.."


Morning is well and truly broken, now, and the bustle of Eavesdown is both busier and louder. Saienne glances over her shoulder to where her ship is berthed. "Well an' good," she says, smiling - non-committal, but friendly enough. "An' what did you say your name was?" She leans forward... but the conversation over at the Dragon catches her attention and she turns, narrowing eyes, to get a better look at the two men. A frown forms, creasing her wrinkles. "Ain't that interestin'..." She murmurs, looking up to the dark hulk of the Dragon's hull again. Her PDA burbles cheerfully in her pocket, distracting her, and she pulls the shining thing out. Stabbing at it to answer the call, she says: "Finnegan! You had your coffee?" A pause. "Yeah, me an' all." She smiles up at Lawson. "Just got to take this wave..."


Hase stops and looks back to the man he has been speaking all this time. " I suggest not playing a joke man.......she is not that friendly no more...you take care of yourself and that little woman of yours." looking about one last time, making sure it is alright. He spots the woman having coffee and he can't help but look at her for a long time, eeying her for some odd reason or another and just before he turns he nods in her direction, then turns. " Take care man and be safe."

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[Log] Tequila sunrise

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Eavesdown Docks, Persephone
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"Well, I really don't know what we're supposed to do with a frog," Josephine is saying, conversationally, presumably to Saienne, as she walks down Grace's ramp. "I mean, the fruit is all kinds of wondrously useful, but..a frog. I already have a chicken. And a rat. And there's the herd of dogs. It's madness, I tell you. Next thing we know, they'll be sending over a llama..." She pulls her shawl more tightly around her shoulders as she looks around. "What did we come out here to do again? Oh..yes. Visit the Chaos Theory folks. If they're not too busy. I should have waved them first, probably..."



Annika seems to be very impressed with Smith's cooking skills, her gold eyes lighting up to hear him talking about his skills. Of course, the sudden rumbling in her stomach gives away any pretense that her interest is collegial. Her gold eyes darken a bit at the rumble and she quickly pulls them away, giving the ship her sudden attention. Changing the subject, perhaps to downplay her reaction to the talk of food, "She's very nice. How long you been with her?"


Having had a good long talk with Morris about the importance of the watchful eye, Matty exits the Chaos Theory again, followed by a folorn dirty-blonde man. She turns to him and waves a hand around the ship. "I already done it, but you can do it again. Make a thorough inspection of this ship 'n make sure no one attached anything to the hull," she says and heads on down the ramp to lean on a cargo crate to watch Morris do his job.


Alabaster Smith considers, doing a little mental math, and then replies, "Ah've been with the Invictus for a couple of months. The owner is a spacer who retired for a while, then realized he couldn't escape the lure of the Black, and Ah'm just a natural-born traveling man mahself." He glances over, eyebrow quirking at the tail end of Josephine's commentary, and he looks amused by it. But then he remembers something else, and looks back to Annika. "If you're so inclined, it's getting round dinnertime, and it's always more fun to cook for more folks than just mahself... The rest of the crew keeps such weird hours, Ah end up leaving sandwiches out for them."


"We only got Jinx now, ain't we?" Saienne says, thoughtfully. "But you ain't wrong. A frog! We're goin' to have to acquire a tank for it an' all, elsewise it'll just dry up like a..." She draws to a close, and shrugs. "Well, you know." She is following close on Josephine's heels, and steps smartly down the Grace's ramp towards the dirt of the dock.


Well, apparently a WAVE is unnecessary, as Sujiko makes his way toward the Chaos Theory from the spacer's district. It doesn't take much observation for him to spot Jo and Sai disembarking, and he promptly makes his way over there. "'eya Jo, Sai," he greets with a slight wave. "You seen a cat around anywheres?" he asks. "Scruffy lookin' 'ole thing... she's Ash's an' I ain't seen 'er in forever."


"Only Jynx? No wonder it's been so quiet," Josephine muses to Saienne at her side, but looks a little melancholy about it. "I guess we'll have to talk to Tyr about a tank. And I was darn serious the other day when I said I'm naming that frog 'Ara.' It's right and fitting retribution for having another creature to look after, don't you think?" She reaches up to scratch her ear a moment and then her expression lightens into what is very nearly a smile to see Sujiko approach. "Captain Suji, hello. I haven't seen a cat about, no..but then, Sai and I just stepped outside.. Is that a Matty I see over there? I owe her at least another apology..."


Still watching Morris go about his inspection of the ship's hull, it doesn't look like Matty has noticed either Josephine or Saienne, nor Sujiko joining the two women. She really just too busy being the boss and showing Morris how things are done. Even though Morris more than likely knows exactly how things are done.


Annika follows Smith when he heads into the Invictus, grown quiet for the moment as she studies the ship for the first time.


"A cat?" Saienne says, blinking at Sujiko. "Good gorram. I reckon this place'll be turnin' into a zoo before long." She turns to Jo. "I'm only guessin', but I ain't seen the others sniffin' around under the table since..." Another shrug, and a little frown. "Well, I ain't seen them, anyhow, an' normally they'd be hooverin' up what we dropped..." She smiles a little at the thought of naming the frog after their erstwhile Captain. "Ara-the-frog." The smile grows to a grin. "Definitely, let's call it that." A beat. "But I ain't tellin' her, if we ever get the chance."


Sujiko's head cocks to the side. "'pology?" he asks, turning to look at Matty himself. He turns back, still looking a little confused. This concept... Josephine doing something that would require an apology... what is this herecy? "Why for?" He stops. "Err, well, I 'spose that ain't my business," he ammends with a shrug. He turns back to Saienne now, looking no less confused. "Frog?" he asks. "Wha's... err, yeah, we got a cat. Ash found 'er 'round here somewhere," he waggles a finger indicating the surrounding area. "Sounds like we oughtta' catch up. Fer havin' a vacation t'gether we din' really get t' talk much," he says a little disappointedly. "You guys free?" he asks, apparently having something in mind. "'cause we should go get a drink or somethin'.." he suggests, turning to look again toward Matty, probably to catch her attention if she'd happen to look this way.


"I lost my temper," Josephine explains calmly, as if that sort of thing happens every day. "Not at Matty, of course, but she was there, and was probably fairly uncomfortable about it, considering." Her gaze is as distant as her thoughts for a moment, before she focuses again on the conversation. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind a drink, but I don't think Sai or myself want to stray too far from Grace just now, things being as..uncertain as they are, all temporarily, of course." The little woman takes a deep breath which is all the warning she gives before she yells (loudly) "MATTY, HEY!" and waves with both her hands to get the other woman's attention. To Saienne, she simply says, "I'll be the first to tell Ara I named a frog after her, believe you me."


Luckily, Matty is still leaned on a crate or she might have fallen right over at Josephine's yell. She jerks around and stares, blinking a couple of times at her, then shoves of the crate, leaving Morris to do the inspection on his own. "Was that you yelling, Jose?" she asks as she comes within speaking distance and gives Josephine a concerned lookover. "You okay?" She glances at Saienne and Sujiko, then back to Josephine, brows furrowed. "What's the yelling about?"


"Oh," Sujiko says a little uneasily, glancing back at Jo for a moment before returning his gaze to Matty, in case she'd look and he missed it. This, of course, means he's not really looking at Jo, so her breath of warning is missed, and the yell makes him nearly jump out of his pants (though he's not Bishop, so they do manage to stay fastened around his waist). He takes a deep breath, looking back toward Sai. "Ya' heard from Ara?" he asks, shifting his weight to his other foot.


Saienne regards Josephine with dark eyes full of concern. "You lost your temper?" She asks, quietly; but lets the subject slide away as Matty walks over. She nods a greeting, and then answers Sujiko. "She sent us a wave. An' a frog." Her shoulders roll again in a fluid shrug. "Funny sense of humour, that woman." A crooked smile accompanies that statement, however. "An' Josephine ain't wrong. Things aboard ain't entirely settled." She frowns suddenly, and shakes her head. "Funny sense of humour but a real gift for command." Sujiko's suggestion of a drink surfaces in her mind, though, and she nods: "Ain't heard a better suggestion in a long while."


"I yelled so you would notice me," Josephine explains to Matty, in far more conversational tones. "But I'm just fine, thank you. Hi." She turns her head to meet Saienne's gaze evenly. "I did, Sai. Not terribly so, but there was no excuse. Hatch was.." She bites her lip lightly, "He was lecturing Morgaine. It wasn't right. But losing my temper at him, there in front of everyone, wasn't right either. I just didn't want..there to be a fight, that's all. I wanted to distract them." Apparently, she has no qualms about discussing such matters in front of both Matty and Sujiko. "It worked." The woman shrugs slightly, then sighs.


Matty looks over at Saienne at the mention of a frog and frowns. "Why'd she send you a frog?" she asks, glancing over at Sujiko for a moment, then tosses a look over her shoulder toward Morris at the Theory. Before she can tell him anything, she's interrupted by Josephine and turns to listen to her. "If'n you ask me, Hatch was right. That woman had no business butting in like she did," she says and gives a sort of apologetic smile to Josephine. "I'd be careful with 'er, if I were you lot. She still thinks there's a war on."


Sujiko's eyes grow a little wider. "Yelled?" he repeats. "I ain't heard ya' raise yer voice more'n just once," he says. "An' that was jus' now," he elaborates. "Musta' been a sight," he muses, glancing to Matty for some hint about how much of a sight it was. He shoves his hands into his pocket and peers up toward the Grace as he listens. He only met Morgaine once, and even then it wasn't a proper introduction or anything, so without much to add he opts for standing quietly.


"She did." Saienne says to Matty, with a half grin. "An' a pile of fruit an' some other stuff. Reckon we got enough oranges an' lemons to last us until Christmas." A pause. "We'll have to give you some before we part ways, elsewise they're just goin' to go all blue an' mushy. Only so many oranges a body can eat in one go..." She looks a little peturbed at Josephine's explanation, but she just nods. "Well an' good." She says, soberly. "If you did what you thought right to stop a scrap an' it worked, then I ain't got no problem with that." She pauses, mouth slightly open, as if she's about to say more, but Matty's declaration causes her to close it and shut up while she listens. "There's a time an' a place, though, ain't there Matty? I ain't sure neither Morgaine nor Hatch picked the right one." Another shrug, and she lifts a hand to rub at the side of her face. "But this ain't neither here nor there, I reckon. We already got plenty of sortin' out to do -" She glances over her shoulder at the familiar shining curve of Grace's hull "- might as well just add this to the gorram list."


Josephine gives Sujiko a strange look. "I yelled at Matty just now, to get her attention. I didn't go yelling to anyone else.." She frowns slightly. "All these concerns regarding Morgaine may very well be justified, but..yeah, I did what I thought was best, given the situation. And they were shaking hands a moment later, so. If there /are/ issues to be resolved, I'd like to think we can do so in a civilised manner." The woman takes a deep breath, and looks down at her feet.


Matty lifts her shoulders at Saienne and gives a quiet nod. Having offered her opinion on Morgaine, it seems she not about to elaborate any more on it. "I was 'fraid her 'n Hatch was about to jump at each other," she says instead and looks over at Josephine with a proud smile. "But Jose handled it pretty well. No broken bones or bruises, at least, so I reckon you did good, Jose." Matty glances quickly at Sujiko and gives him a crooked smile, along with a kind of look that might translate to 'tell you later'.


Sujiko gives a sort of sideways frown at Sai and Jo. "I think.." he starts, interrupting now before the conversation goes further into things that don't do anything to improve peoples' moods, "that we should go get drunk." He says it flatly, and he seems pretty much decided that that is indeed what he thinks. "So if'n y'er all wanna' join me, might do us all a bit o' good t' leave them lists o' stuff t' work out back here on th' ships 'till we recouperate a spot."


Saienne wrinkles her nose in a slight frown. "An angry Hatch really ain't somethin' I like to see, in general." She says, slipping her hands back into her pockets and slumping her shoulders a little. One booted foot scuffs in the dirt of the dock, and she nods along with Josephine. "We will." She says, attempting to reassure the younger woman. "An' let's not dwell on it too much now. There ain't nothin' we can do with neither of them here." She smiles lop-sidedly at Sujiko. "But this drink you mentioned? Was it a mythical drink, or can we set ourselves out on the path to it?" His final comments - about getting drunk - cause her smile to twist up into somewhat of a gleeful grin. "Ain't that the best idea I've heard in days?"


Josephine lifts her gaze again and looks around her. "Well, I can't say I'd mind a drink about now, really. So long as no one minds me getting possibly over emotional and downright silly about it. You all know well enough my tolerance..or lack thereof, regarding alcohol.. And I daresay, I /never/ saw Suji drunk. Even that one time when you were drinking that foul Devil's Brew or somesuch... That was awful."


Matty's mischievous look at Sujiko turns into a deep frown as he suggests getting drunk and she opens her mouth, then closes it again, apparently not sure what to say. Not that she's averse to getting drunk, but when the suggestion comes from Sujiko, it worries her. Finally, after much hesitation, she gives a slow nod. "A'right. Let's get drunk..." she says, only to turn and stare at Josephine as she agrees to come along. "I daresay, I ain't never seen /you/ drunk, Jose...


Sujiko grins to Jo, taking a step or two back toward the direction of the slums. "I been drunk," he confirms. The reminder of Jo's experience with his beverage of choice prompts a mischievous grin. "Ya' din' like that?" he asks teasingly. "Gee, from yer reaction I woulda' thought ya' enjoyed it." Of course, he's being facetious. "But anyway, where ya' thinkin' we should go? Can't say I know o' many places 'round Eavesdown... even with all th' time we spend 'round here."


"Every time I come here the bars up an' change their names," Saienne complains - an exaggeration, surely. She ponders. "Oh mayhap that's just me suppin' a little more hooch than is strictly healthy." She looks over towards the Spacers' district. "Why don't we just wander on over there an' pick a place that don't seem like we might walk out if it dead?" She frowns at herself. "That really din't make no sense at all."


"I nearly gagged and choked to death," Josephine grumbles, poking a finger at Suji's ribs if he's going to be teasing her like that, even as she follows him toward the slums. "Bless Michael's heart for having a glass of water already in front of me so I didn't fataly die. And the last time I was drunk.. okay, the only time I was really drunk...I suppose..." She suddenly grows more solemn again. "It was the night that Aradia told me and Hatch she was resigning as Apollo's Captain."


"I usually go to Long Leg Sally's," Matty says and looks over in the direction of the slums, then turns back to the company she's with and gives a slight grin. "But maybe the Dregs is a better choice... They got food there too."

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Dregs Bar and Grill, Persephone
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Sujiko makes his way toward the Dreggs with the group of awesome friend type people. Of course, because that's just how he is, he opens the door for the others in the group and is the last through it, but he's not much for words at the moment.


There's an atmosphere, sure enough, among the group. Saienne tips a somewhat lazy salute to Sujiko as he holds the door open for them, and she steps blinking into the bar. "First round on me, I reckon." Saienne says, her voice carrying over the general buzz of the clientele. "What'll it be?" Dark eyes come up to regard all three of her companions in turn.


David enters from the main entrance, his eyes quickly scope around the bar as a perused animal would. He folds his arms across his chest, and begins towards the bar, lifting his left hand to wave to the barkeep very briefly, "Beer mah, mate." he says a little uneasily. Eyes shifting around the bar for a brief moment before he comes to stand before the bar, leaning his back against it so he can watch the door.


Josephine is strangely not very talkative herself. She tugs at her shawl a bit, and more or less tries to blend in with the other quirky spacers in the bar, even though she tends to stick out like a sore thumb..in a pleasant and companionable sort of way, of course. At Saienne's question, the small woman blinks and looks suddenly indecisive. As she always is regarding drinks. "Matty, pick something for me, will you?" she asks, not trusting Sujiko in this matter.


Matty takes off her hat as she enters, running a hand through her hair to loosing it up a bit, then crosses over to the bar, her eyes scanning the man leaning there. She frowns a bit, gears obviously turning as she looks at him, then gives a look at Josephine and turns back to the bartender. "Yeah.. I'll have a beer and a slammer, 'n my friend'll have a.. Hell, I dunno. Jose, what d'you like?"


Sujiko grins a little. "Thanks Sai," he says. "I'll jus' have a beer," he says, making for the bar to not sit in the barstools that aren't there. He turns and leans against the bar. "Slammer?" he asks, quirking a brow. "Wassat?" He props both elbows on the bar behind him tipping his head curiously.


David's eyes fixate on one of the females in the group for a long moment, "'hit" he mutters and turns from the crew, towards the bar, leaning over it arms still folded across his chest. Apparently he knows one of them from somewhere. His left hand finally moves after a long second, and grabs the beer bottle before him taking a quick swig.


Saienne sets some cash on the counter to cover the cost of what Matty is ordering. "An' a couple more beers, an' all," She chimes in, adding her and Sujiko's requests to the tab. She pushes the money towards Matty - who seems to be doing all the hard work at the bar - and leans back a little.


"Well, I don't like beer," Josephine muses at Matty. "I /do/ like blue drinks, but they always seem to go straight to my head. I have no idea. I'm not an expert on these things. That's why I asked you." This could take forever, if no one steps in and just picks something for her. The woman keeps close to her friends, although she occasionally looks around her.


"Haven't I told you that, Suj?" Matty says and looks over at the blue-eyed man, still with a pair of knotted brows. "'s a tequila shot with soda." She looks back to the bartender after Josephine's explanation and lifts a brow at him. "Do you do mixed drinks? I think my friend'll have a tequila sunrise, if'n you do."


David's eyes drift up from the bar and the beer set upon it towards the woman looking at him. Making eye contact with her for a very brief second as a small smirk as if there's some sort of inside joke between the two. His eyes drift back down towards the bottle of beer and he presses himself up from the bar, leaning his back on it again and keeping his attention somewhat split between the door and the crew.


"Blue drinks have a habit of doin' that." Saienne says, quietly. "They're all sugar an' colourin' an' nothin' much pure." She looks behind the bar at the racks of bottles - mostly different beers, whiskeys and other spirits - but Matty's suggestion makes her nod approval. "Still go straight to your head, I reckon, but it'll taste nicer on the way." She grins crookedly and reaches for two of the beers - one for her and one for Sujiko.


Josephine has actually heard of a tequila sunset and brightens noticably at the prospect of having another one today. She shifts her feet a bit. "Well, I'd rather not be making you folks have to carry me back to Grace, so I think Matty's made a good enough choice," she approves, keeping an eye on the suspiciously quiet Suji. "Hey," she says, wedging her way through the crowd to be beside him. "You okay? This wasn't really what you meant by having a coffee, was it?"


Matty turns her eyes on the bartender as he starts making a tequila sunrise, leaning her elbows on her bar and haunching her shoulders as if trying to hide her face between them. She reaches surreptiously down to her side to press a button on her icomm, clipped to her belt. The thing emits a beep and she straightens a bit as if surprised by it, then raises a hand to her ear. "Yeah?" she mumbles, waits and nods. "Yeah, alright. I'll be right there." She pushes off the bar and reaches for her beer, then turns to the others in the group. "Sorry, guys. Morris needs me back at the ship," she says and lifts the beer in a toast, turning to Josephine with a grin. "Go easy, eh? 'n call me if you need help gettin' back home, eh?"

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[Log] Just a cook...

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Crew Commons, Grace O'Malley [Persephone]
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Josephine has spent the better part of the day sorting out the galley and restocking whatever basic supplies are more interesting to purchase on Persephone. She is leaning over the counter now, bent to study a list on her PDA with a furrowed brow and the telltale biting of her lip to show that all is not quite well. "I suppose we can do without," she murmurs, tapping at an entry before scrutinizing the next.



Saienne comes into the Commons from the hatch leading down to the hold. "Evenin'," she says, quietly, taking her hat off as she enters the room. She holds it in one hand and looks over towards the galley. "Everythin' fine an' dandy, Josephine?" She asks, before frowning, and adding: "... given the circumstances, an' all."


"Erm," Josephine begins eloquently, tapping at the screen once more before glancing up at Saienne. "Well, everything is okay and all.. it's just that.. well.. You see.. Maxwell had sort of been supplementing our food budget so that he would never have to suffer the experience of what he thought to be inferior food, and.. I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that we won't be eating quite as extravagantly in the future. Not nearly so. It just won't be possible unless we start making incredibly huge profits and want to blow it all on breakfast cereal with funny coloured marshmallows and expensive bottles of scotch.." She scratches her head with the PDA stylus. "How are things with you?" There aren't so many smiles from Josephine lately.


Saienne settles her hat on the end of the counter and steps round the galley to peer at Josephine's PDA and the workings she has made. She frowns, and reaches up one long-fingered hand to scratch at the stubble on the back of her head. A little sigh escapes her - but it is very quiet - and she says quickly. "Well, it ain't so bad. We'll just have to make do." A crooked half smile. "I was beginnin' to think my luck was too gorram good to have been fed so well for so long, anyhow." She touches Josephine gently on the shoulder. "You're a good cook, ain't you? You'll have to be more inventive, is all. An' we got the garden in the hold that we ain't used yet, an' all. An' I expect Tyr might be able to advise us on keepin' some chickens, or somethin'." She takes a step away from the younger woman. "It ain't easy," she says softly. "I know." A pause. "But we'll make do - I promise."


Stumbling from somewhere, Bishop walks in with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, hair looking asunder and the very obvious hungover aspect of his existance being astutely evident without much investigation. The pilot just wanders around and half sits, half falls, mostly flops into a chair.


Josephine isn't used to being reassured in such a fashion, but she seems to appreciate it. Nodding an awknowledgement, she bites her lip again and sighs. "We'll be just fine," she assures. "I'm not used to cooking anything fancy, and I'm sure I'll learn to work with protein paste from time to time if it comes to that. We'll all stay healthy and decently fed. I'll see to it. Oh, Bish.." Her voice trails off into silence as she forgets her business and dash over to the man. "You okay?" the cook asks the pilot, fretting over him considerably, "Sai, would you mind getting a bottle of water?"


Hatch comes meandering on in to the commons just before Morgaine and Madison, he starts to make his way over to the coffee pot but if given the chance will catch Jo in his arms for a moment, as somethings are more important then coffee.


And neither is Saienne used to giving such reassurances, so she just nods in agreement with Josephine. "We'll not starve, certainly. You just let me know if we're runnin' low on anythin'." Bishop's entrance gives her pause, and she frowns at him in concern, ducking to retrieve the water without question. She pulls a glass down from one of the overhead cupboards also and walks over to the pair of them. "I got some chen zi pills in my bunk..."


Matty shrugs off her jacket as she comes into the commons, inspecting the hole where sleeve meets the body, pulling at some loose threads. She pauses at the number of crew gathered and looks around, feeling like an intruder. "Uh... Hatch invited me fer coffee..." she says and gives the man a glance, before looking back at the rest. "But if yer busy, I don't mind.. Leaving." She looks over at Bishop and bites her lower lip a little, obviously thinking of Ashlyn.


Drunken Bishop grunts and withdraws from the people trying to offer him assistance, wrapping his blanket more tightly around him. "Uhghh.mmm..." He responds in classic fashion.


Nobody withdraws from Josephine. She frets over Bishop, fetching him a pillow, uncapping the bottle of water and placing it in his hand. "Drink. It's good for you," she instructs him, but not too loudly, which is just about when she get swept into Hatch's arms, however briefly..which inevitably causes her to blink and momentarily forget everything she had been fretting about. Until..she hear's Matty's voice, of course, and her eyes light up. "Matty!"


"We ain't never so busy that you ain't welcome, Matty." Saienne says; a crooked smile. "There's plenty of coffee in the urn..." She pauses, and glances at Jo. "Josephine, coffee's one of them things we ain't able to run out of, I reckon." Relieved of the water, but still holding the glass, she takes a step back from Bishop to give him some room to breath - and to be ministered to by Josephine.


Hatch holds Jo close in the least long enough to steal her full attention from the world, when she slips back into it leaving Hatch feeling that much better and smiling gently as he starts walking over to collect a mug. "Matty came over for some coffee, and is thinking of helping me as Suji to come over and do some of the repairs I can't do. We also need one cup of tea for Morgaine? Matty did you take cream and sugar?"


Morgaine smiles at the folks as she enters into the commons and notices this is the busiest that she has ever seen it with a lot of people here. "Hello Jo, Sai, Bishop, Lu" She moves to make the tea, "Does anyone else want tea besides me?"


Bishop reaches a hand out to snag the water bottle and bring sit back to his huddled form, burrowing deeper into his blanket of protection but the sound of sipping is audible from underneath.


"Hi Jose," Matty says and lifts the corners of her mouth in a smile, though she can't help giving worried glances at Bishop. She drops her jacket over the back of a chair and then gives a look around at the others, a thoughtful kind of look in her eyes. "Hmm? No, black thanks, Hatch." She nods and shoves her hands in her pockets, standing there with her lips pursed a bit, then nods to Hatch. "Yeah. I'm sure he won't mind. Him.. Or Ash.." It might be accidental, but she raises her voice just a little at saying Ashlyn's name.


"Oh, Morgaine! I would /love/ some tea. And I'm sure Saienne would as well," Josephine mutters as she envelopes Matty in a hug whether she likes it or not. "The rest of these folks are all addicted to coffee in the worst sort of way. I think if we ever ran out of the stuff, they'd lose the will to live entirely." Mindful of Bishop, she doesn't speak very loudly. "I've made a fresh urn of coffee. Let me just fetch the mugs.."


"Tea would be fine an' dandy, thank you," Sai agrees, good-naturedly. "An' Bish..." She says, looking down at the huddled pilot. "You sure you don't want none of that chen zi? Mighty fine on the most killer of hangovers, I swear." She swipes her hat from the end of the counter and puts the glass back in the cupboard. "You know where everythin' is, Morgaine?"


Hatch manages to get himself a mug before Jo becomeing a target in Jo's proclaimed space. "Matty likes hers black." Hatch mentions as he backs himself into the corner of the kitchen out of the way of perhaps the only person on the ship he seems to fear, and really only in this space..


Hearing certain words illicits grunts out of Bishop and more burrowing into his blanket fortress. After a moment though his arm emerges and he flings a little of his water bottle in the direction of Matty's voice.


Matty takes a seat and leans back in it, eyes lingering for a moment on the couple in the kitchen with an almost sad expression in her eyes. "Anyways.. Any kind o' help you need, don't hesitate to a---" Water is splashed on her face (remarkable aim for someone in Bishop's state) and she blinks, turning in his direction. "Hey. Don't make me get 'er o'er here!"


Morgaine smiles, "I have figured out where the tea is" and she sets about making three cups of it since there are three drinkers. "I have been meaning to ask if you mind if I help out with the cook, Jo. I find it a relaxing hobby and something that I enjoy doing at times. It is one of my useful hobbies."


Continues to grin in his claimed corner of the kitchen, certianly able to answer some questions that are flowing about but having no real need to.. they will be responded to in time. Hatch just grins and sips at his mug with as much control of his amusement as he can manage.


Josephine is hardly scary, in the galley or anywhere else. She does give Hatch a bit of a funny look. "I know how Matty takes her coffee... Ah, Morgaine..you're more than welcome to pitch in here in the galley whenever you like. Just be sure to put things back more or less where you found them so they don't get lost." She gathers the appropriate number of coffee mugs and, curiously, seems to have memorised how everyone takes theirs, because she prepares the lot of them without asking once. "It seems that everyone can cook these days. I'm all kinds of redundant, you know. I just sort of take up space, decorate the room, occasionally assault people's ears with song..." Although there is a hint of truth in her lamentations, she's mostly just being melodramatic for the sake of fun.


"Jo I was a galley cook for almost a year on a firefly and then got to talk shop with a bunch of amazing cooks on a boat you remember and you outshine the lot of em. Other then, with certian egg dishes." Hatch teases lightly as he pushes back to sit upon the corner of the counter, "And your even sweet enough to let me make breakfast now and again. Speaking of that whats on the menu for dinner?"


"I'll take that as a no..." Saienne says, cheerfully, as she observes the exchange between Bishop and Matty. Turning to Morgaine, she asks: "How are you with growin' things?" Saienne settles against the counter and asks Morgaine as she sets about making the tea. She leans, elbows on the countertop, and peers at Josephine. "There ain't a day aboard when you ain't needed, Josephine," she says, smiling faintly. "An' you know it, an' all." She falls silent as Hatch speaks: "See - an' he ain't just bein' nice, I swear it."


Morgaine smiles, "I am no expert cook or fancy, I just enjoy doing it as a hobby. I ain't never poisoned anyone or gotten many complaints. I ain't gotta many special requests or compliments either." She doesn't seem to want to offend Jo. "Better too many cooks than too few though. Means if someone wants a break the others can pitch in."


Matty chuckles and shakes her head at Josephine, tilting her head over at her. "I still can't boil water without burning it, Jose. 'n yer always welcome to come cook fer us. Seems we lost another cook now. Maybe we ought to make our galley more.. Attractive?" she says, musing on the last words. She shrugs and gives a faint smile, looking over to the galley. "Reckon Marta's cooking's a bit to fancy fer our lot, anyway.."


Josephine doesn't quite smile. "I just think I need to learn something other than cooking, is all. Bree said she would teach me some things, but I'm not sure she meant it. Just so I can help out a bit more, you know? But thank you for being all kinds of kind regarding my cooking skills. Except for Hatch, whose fault it was that I messed up a certain egg dish, thank you very much." She gazes at the man fondly for a moment. "Nearly cost my my job, I tell you. --How come you folks can't keep your cooks around, Matty? You go through them like tissues. Do you need me to fix you up some things to keep in your freezer, again?"


"Not my fault you thought I was scary.. she thought I was scary." Hatch comments to anyone listening with a raise of his glass, "Now she tells me I'm a big teddy bear." He laments as he lifts the mug to his lips for a swallow of the coffee he collected. "Terrible.."


"Now's a popular time for learnin' new skills, ain't it?" Saienne says, and with feeling. "My head feels so full of information I really ain't sure where I'm goin' to stash the rest of it." She smiles fondly at Josephine, and then at Hatch. "Teddy bear, is that so?"


"Big ol' puppy, Hatch is," Matty notes with a smirk, glancing over at him with a wink. She shrugs at Josephine and looks almost lost for words. "I dunno. Might be that we can't supply 'em with proper raw materials? Marta has really high standards, but ain't exactly something we can afford." She smiles broadly at the offer and nods to Josephine. "A filled freezer'd be great, Jose, but we don't want to be a drain on ya."


Josephine levels a reassuring gaze to Saienne. "You are doing /wonderfully/," she tells the woman without the faintest amount of sarcasm. "You really are. I'm terribly proud of you...of everyone, really, thus far. And I never called Hatch a teddy bear. A big oaf, is what I said, and I stand by that observation, as appropriate." The cook turns her gaze to Matty, "Truth be told, we don't have all that much to spare ourselves, what with the change of situation and all. But if you give me a few hours with what you do have in your galley, I'm fairly certain I can manage to whip up a few things to keep your bellies full and warm, at least for a little while."


"Oaf it is then." Hatch says with a shrug, "Sai at some point in time me and you are gonna need to sit down and chat over a few things.. I know I've been busy, but we'll sort things out. Or in the least you can tell me whats been going right or wrong." He steps a little closer to Jo, "Least I'm a well loved Oaf."


Matty nods sombrely at Josephine and her mention of the changeover, then looks down at her hands for a moment. "Yeah, well, like I said, don't wanna be a drain on ya, be it your stores or your ability, Jose. You guys oughta be focusing on yerselves, not us," she says and looks back up, giving a smile. "'sides, Marta might be AWOL a lotta the time, but she still makes appearances now and then. Not sure she'd be too happy if she found someone else in her galley."


Saienne laughs, a low down rumble of a chuckle. "An oaf! Ain't that more suitin' than a teddy bear!" She picks up her hat. "Speakin' of teddy bears, I reckon I got a pressin' date with mine." She pauses then. "We've all been busy," Saienne says, more serious now. "An' reelin' a little an' all." She shrugs. "I've been lookin' to what I know - which is business - an' you've been lookin' to what you know, an' Josephine's been pickin' up all the pieces we two have dropped." A pause, and she reaches up the scratch at the back of her head, ruffling the spiky stubble between her fingers. "But you ain't wrong. We do need to sit down an' put some order to this - you, me, an' Josephine, I reckon." There is a pause. "We got a lot to do - not least make a decision as to who we're goin' to settle on to call the shots. I ain't bothered who it is, but it has to be someone." She looks at the bulkhead; into the middle-distance. "Things with more than one head just don't tend to survive, I have observed." She looks back up at them - and Matty too. "But I plan on survivin'. Ain't we all survivors?"


Hatch tipping up his mug says simply enough, "I figure you or Jo, to be honest. I'm more then happy just fixing things and being here when you need me. I'm a bit to set in my ways to be kind about calling the shots on a ship.. I love Grace, and won't be leaving her, but not sure I'm the captain she needs. One of you are, that I'm sure of.."


Josephine offers the faintest of smiles to Saienne but turns positively pale at Hatch's. "Goodness, I'm just a cook," she mutters, making sure everyone has their coffee and enough of coffee and anything else they might require. "But I'll be happy to sit down with you both..sooner rather than later, I think..to sort out all that must be sorted."


"An I'm just an oaf." Hatch comments softly, making no move to step from his corner as of yet.


Matty shifts a bit in her seat as Saienne goes on about ship's business, looking down to study the lines on her palms as if pretending not to hear. She gives a glance up and around, then looks back down, not looking like she has much to offer in the way of advice. After a few moments of silence from her, though, she pipes up quietly. "Like I said.. 'm sure Suj 'n Ash won't mind havin' a look at yer engine 'n stuff..." Not like Matty has much to offer in the way of fixing things. She gives a nod to Josephine as she serves her coffee, then looks around again, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "I can leave.. If you wanna talk about this now?"


"Drunk." Bishop's voice chimes up from where he's still curled up under his blanket.


Morgaine smiles as she hands out the tea, "well, I would like to say I have a hand with growing things and animals but well, I am a spacer and most of my time has been in the black. I know somethings are nice and furry, some are mean and furry and that I should let the experts tell me which is which and I know that I try tending plants and they die fast. Food I can manage, but " She shrugs, the first really casual sort of response, "I need it packaged and sold in a market not still in the soil."


"Just a cook..." Saienne mutters. "Josephine, you ain't 'just' nothin'. An' you neither, Hatch." She ponders, flicking the feather on her hat so it bounces away and springs back. She nods, though. "Sooner would be best, certainly." She looks up at Josephine. "How about over supper?" Saienne looks sideways to Bishop, saying gently: "Ain't you, though?" Her dark eyes are expressive, and her wrinkles crease a little as she frowns. Morgaine's voice cuts through her musings, and she looks up from Bishop's blanketed form just in time to reach for her cup of tea. "Thank you," she says, graciously, lifting the full cup up to her lips. She doesn't drink though - the liquid is hot and there's plenty more for her to say. "Well, hell, that ain't no bother. Looks like it's up to me to go grubbin' around in the dirt." She frowns again. "I wonder if Tyr's done any plantin'... mind, he grew up on a ranch, ain't it so, so mayhap not..." She shakes her head at Matty. "Stay as long as you like," she says, "Now maybe ain't the time - an' the Commons probably not the place, an' all."


Hatch finishes off his coffee, having said his part in the least and knowing that there will be more talk of it later. "Naw, no real need to head out Matty.. hell your family too." He smiles as he walks over to the sink to rinse his mug, "Just like that wad of moaning blankets over there, your better behaved then him and we keep him too. See."


Josephine turns a sober, considering sort of gaze toward Hatch. There is some kind of silent communication between them. "Matty, you know you're welcome here," she says, once she has turned her attention, again, wandering over to the woman, and resting a hand atop her head. "And I honestly don't mind facing the wrath of your Marta, if it means you folks will be guaranteed to have hot soup on days when nothing else really will do." She lifts her gaze to nod to Saienne. "Over supper will be just fine, if that works for you both. I was thinking of making lentil stew, since we seem have more lentils than anyone could possibly imagine using."


Matty takes a sip of her coffee and chuckles at Bishop's comment, shaking her head a bit, then looks over at Saienne, tilting her head a bit. "Well, if'n you don't mind 'n opinion, it's sounding like Sai's takin' command already. No offense, or nothin'. Meanin' it in a good way, that is," she gives a hesitant grin, still looking out of place here with all that's going on. As Josephine comes over, she lifts her head and smiles, a grateful look in her eyes. "Well, only if you want to. 'n you gotta let us pay you back somehow."


Morgaine smiles at Sai, "You definately have a command temperment, Sai. You get things done, are used to mountains of paperwork, got the respect of your crew. You would do well, I think." She of course speaks as if she knows something of what she is talking about as she takes a sip of her tea. "but then I am just a passenger so what would I know about being a captain." She says with a touch of humor in her voice.


"Lentil stew sounds just about right," Saienne says, with a crooked grin. "An' supper it is. That sit right with you, Hatch?" She sips her tea, silent as the others speak. As she hears what they're saying, she pays a little more attention to the cup in her hands. Her long fingers stretch around it, one of them rubbing absently at the porcelain. She nods at Matty. "Some things have just got to be done, ain't they? Come what may." She frowns again. "An' it never was my intention to step on no one's toes. Just to..." A shrug, and an uncomfortable expression. "Do what Aradia asked." She finishes somewhat lamely, looking between the other four a little helplessly. Morgaine's comments catch her somewhat off guard. "Well, hell, what do I know?" She murmurs. "I only ever made corporal, an' it weren't exactly a glorious achievement. Shabbiest gun crew I ever seen." She straightens. "But you ain't wrong - I do know my gorram paperwork." She grins, crookedly, simultaneously embarrassed and reckless.


"Lentel soup sounds wonderful, wish we had some dashi for miso.. that would be good tomorrow. Eh." Hatch muses as the convesation more or less contiues around him. He appears to to be content enough with how things are progressing that he is once again letting them roam free.


Josephine reorganises Matty's hair a bit, hat-permitting. "Have less extravagent cravings, Hatch," she solemnly advises, but seems to have no more to say regarding the chain of command at this time. "And I'll be over to visit, Matty, as soon as my duty's here so permit, ok? Suji wanted to have coffee sometime, as well. I think he's excessively worried about me."


Matty gives a look around the commons, frowning a bit. Lentil stew? Apparently not one of Matty's favourites by the look of her wrinkled nose. "Oh, c'mon, Sai, I ain't never made it past corporal neither, but you showing a damned sight more leadership than I ever did," she tells the feathered woman. She gives a glance over at Hatch, then the blanket covered Bishop and then to Josephine. "'n it ain't looking like the others here are too willing to take command." Her hat off, as they are indoors, Josephine's hair-reorganising makes her reach up to squeeze the woman's hand. "You know yer always welcome on the Theory, Jose." - I always enjoy RPing with Matty.


"Less extravagent, nope not really. The more extravigent will have to be saved for a more private setting." The first mate mentions as he wanders across the kitchen to stand someplace near the counter once again, "We'll figure it out Sai, dont worry.. anyhoo at least you got command experience." He promptly glosses over his entire career on the Apollo in one easy shot by saying, "I'm just a cargo had in the end. I'm most happy doing work with my hands on the ship, in the ship or well we all know my version of outside the ship."


Morgaine speaks softly to Sai, "well now, Corporal. You have just completed OCS and are now hereby promoted to commissioned officer. Your pay is the same, responsibilities increase, you get just as much grief, but there is a shiny title to go with it." She is somewhat amused. She then shifts topics a minute. "Oh yeah, Jo, while food is being discussed, I can't eat cinnamon, nuts or shellfish. The allergic reaction to those isn't pretty and though I have meds, the experience is one I would prefer to avoid."


Saienne looks up sharply. "We can't afford miso? Good gorram... We need to get goin', don't we?" Matty's comments further cause her to examine a chip in the teacup's rim. She picks at it with a fingernail. "Well, that's real kind of you to say..." she murmurs. "But mayhap y'all should reserve judgement until some time down the line?" She grins crookedly, and listens to Hatch. "You never did see the shape of my crew, Hatch..." She smiles lop-sidedly. "But you ain't wrong. We'll figure it out. Ain't no other option." Morgaine's comment causes her to grin outright and she throws a lazy salute to the older woman. The hat in her hand spoils the effect somewhat, however, as does her rather less than military bearing. "Never was much of a soldier. That was Daniel's game." She finally sips the tea again, and says, in conclusion: "Well, I got some waves to make an' I expect I should do them from my bunk." She glances down at Bishop. "Expect we'd best just leave him slumberin' there for now..." And, so saying, she steps off to the port side of the ship - where her bunk is.


"I was going to ask," Josephine assures Morgaine. "And we never kept shellfish around here anyway. Ar...someone else was allergic," she states, refusing to speak the name she had begun to say. She squeezes Matty's hand softly and wanders back over to hover near Hatch. "I don't think your taking command has ever been a question, Saienne. You do it naturally. We all support you. There's just..a lot of other things to sort out, is all. Rest well," she says, more gently.


Matty snorts at Hatch, knowing quite a bit about his background, and shakes her head. "Just a cargo hand.. Yeah, /right/," she says, but doesn't elaborate, since there are people here who probably don't know Hatch's history. She looks over at Morgaine, jaw setting tightly at the woman's comment to Saienne, as to fire a comment back. Whether Morgaine has meant it jokingly or not, Matty probably doesn't find it funny by the look of her expression. "Take care, Sai. 'n just remember you got friends who'll listen to all yer complaints, eh?"


Hatch glances over to Morgaine for a moment a brow raises slowly, in that instance he decides to say nothing for the time being but his distaste at that perticular jest is apparent. He swallows his annoyance, and instead walks over to stand along side Jo reaching out to slip his fingers between hers, "Well you saw the shape of mine Sai, and where I was settled and comfortable with. We all know the merit and measure of most of the crew onboard. We'll settle in and talk it over when we have the time.."

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