[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.."