[Log] "Swimmin', my arse!"

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Island Clearning, Newhall
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Dense tropical rainforest opens into a secluded clearing large enough for three or four ships. The ground is hard-packed with a thin layer of loose sand on top. A pathway has been cut into the undergrowth, narrow at the entrance but quickly widening into a well maintained walking path. When it's sunny, the shadows cast by the canopy dance across the hulls of the resident aircraft. Away from civilization, the night sky illuminates the area with the faint glow of starlight.
The rainforest floor is powder-white sand with fallen leaves carpeting the ground between the undergrowth and on either side of the cleared path. The trees rise up straight and tall toward the sky while twisted roots are exposed below and vines twine up the trunks and drape across the branches. Narrow, meandering animal tracks lead to trickling, crystal clear streams that well from springs and flow toward the ocean waters.
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Matty comes out of the jungle, walking along the path breathing in and out in a controlled manner as if trying to catch her breath. The sheen of sweat on her skin and damp hair might be evidence that she's been out for a run and her outfit might even corroborate that. She heads on over to the Chaos Theory's ramp and plunks down next to it, stretching out her legs in front of her, then leans over to reach for her toes with her fingers.



The heat seems to be getting to Saienne. She is sitting in the shade of the Grace's shining hull, her large hat crammed onto her head. She has a rudimentary fan, folded out of stiff paper, and is waving it in front of her face in a lacklustre manner. Her skin, too, carries a sheen of sweat - although its presence hardly indicates any sort of exertion. "Afternoon," she says, in a pleasant enough voice, as Matty comes to sit down on the Chaos Theory's ramp. "How in the six hells you can run in this gorram heat I'll never fathom." Although, as she speaks, she smiles her lop-sided smile, her tone indicates that her pondering is entirely in earnest.


Matty looks up and around, searching for the source of the voice and spotting it, she gets to her feet, moving over to Saienne, walking kind of funny as if trying to stretch her muscles as she goes. "Well.. There's not much else to do on this gorram island, is there?" she says and laces her fingers together behind her back, then bends forward and tries forcing her arms over her head, eyes trying to stay focused on the other woman. "I don't much like the heat either. I grew up on Saint Albans. This weather... This kind o' heat. Don't think I'll ever get used to it."


"Saint Albans? Ice an' snow, ain't it?" She looks over at Matty, watching as she stretches out from her run. The fan moves lazily, flicking flies away as they threaten to settle either on her or nearby. "I'm from Boros - neither ice an' snow nor heat an' sweat. Entirely more temperate." Her lop-sided smile shifts into a crooked grin. "An' you ain't wrong there - there ain't much to do. I been an' chased up all my loose ends an' tidied the hold about a dozen times already." She pauses, and looks down the path towards the beach. "About the only thing to recommend this place is the sea, I reckon."


Brianna appears, walking with Tyr from the south and the beach. They have a pick-a-nick basket (hey Yogi!) between them. Those who look close might potentially notice such things, the tanktop she wears seems to be sans bra underneath while said article's strap is dangling out of a rear pocket of her shorts as they pass by toward the ramp to enter Grace.


"Uh hu," Matty nods and straightens, letting her arms fall to her sides then grabs an elbow with the opposite hand and twists at the waist. "Snow 'n ice. Even though I left more'n fifteen years ago, it's still the kind of weather I like the best." Hearing footsteps, she turns and watches Brianna and Tyr make their way across the clearing. She raises a brow at the state of the woman's clothes, then turns back to Saienne with a curious expression. "New crew? Or just Tyr's girlfriend?"


"I ain't averse to snow an' ice - in proportion. Just as I ain't averse to heat entirely." She pauses; smiles again. "Boros is altogether more temperate though, ain't it? All green grass, rollin' hills an' daffodils. This ain't nothin' but a gorram extreme." She stops, and watches Brianna and Tyr as they pass her, her grin creasing to a frown. "Well, hell," she says, still with good humour. "New crew, far as I reckoned it." A pause, and the frown dissolves again to a smile. She tips her hat back on her head so that her eyes can be seen. "But she don't seem to be wastin' no time, an' all." She raises her voice and calls across to the pair: "Afternoon. Enjoy lunch?"


Tyr's hair is wet, like he ended up in the water or something. "It was a nice lunch," he confirms. "Water is beautiful. Real clear and just perfect." He raises a hand. "Hey, Sai."


Brianna turns toward the others at Sai's call. She waves and smiles. "Sai..." Nodding to Matty, "Ma'am." then back to Sai. "I've never been to a real beach before... not like this with all that water. It's amazing! Swimming's good too! You should have come joined us!" Her hair, like Tyr's is clearly wet and slowly sundrying.


Matty releases her elbow and gives a shrug before repeating the procedure, only the other way around. "Haven't really spent much time on Boros.. 'n last time I was there.." she pauses, then lets her arms fall and gives Saienne a crooked smile. "Well, let's just say I don't much feel like visitin' the place again. Might have to some day, though." She gives a nod to Tyr and Brianna, raising a hand to run it through her hair. "'s Matty. Not ma'am. I ain't in the military no more."


And so Saienne slowly puts two and two together. "Swimmin'." She says, with perhaps a very slight undertone of disappointment. "Swimmin', of course." She nods to Brianna. "I did see it when we landed, but I ain't wandered down there yet. Reckon I will when some of this heat starts burnin' off." She grins back across at Matty. "Oh, you an' me both. It surely ain't on my list of planets to visit in a hurry." A pause, and the grins fades a little. "Much to my sister's irritation, an' all."


"Doin' all right, Matty?" asks Tyr after the woman here. "How are things over on your boat these days? All's shiny, I'm hopin'."


Brianna nods, "Matty it is then.." She offers her hand, "Brianna.. or Bree.." she then smiles to Sai, "Why? goin' swimmin' when the heat's up is better. It cools you down! An some of Jo's iced tea and sandwiches? Perfect way to enjoy being off Grace for a while before gettin' back to things."


Matty lifts a leg, bending it back toward her bottom where she takes hold with a hand on the ankle, while balancing on the other leg, then pulls to stretch the thigh muscle. She looks over at the 'couple' with a crooked grin. "Didn' see y'all on the beach..." she comments, then shrugs and sets her foot back on the ground. "Maybe 'twas a different beach." She turns her attention to Tyr, then glances at the Theory with a rueful smile. "Oh yeah. Everythin's shiny. Just hired a new pilot."


Tyr looks over at Bree, and then shrugs at Matty. "Guess you weren't lookin' hard enough, Matty. We were sure as anything there, at least." He quirks her a grin about the Theory, tho. "Good to hear about the ship. A good one, I hope?"


Brianna look surprised at Matty, "Well we didn't see you, but we were just south..down the path there.. I think one of your crew... was down there looking around while we were eating but no one else said anything while we were there."


"To be straight an' true, Brianna, at present I just ain't inclined to move my sorry self from this precious spot of shade. I fear that if I roused myself to stumble down to the shore I would just collapse in a heap in the sand from the effort - an' that ain't goin' to be good for no one's health." She pauses; the fan flickers half-heartedly. She sighs a little. "I just ain't built for the heat." Listening to Matty, Saienne asks: "Is that so? Did you pick him up on Santo, then? Din't realise you folks were lookin'."


"She's got flight school. And don't seem the type to drink while piloting," Matty says with a grin to Tyr and mimics her balancing act to stretch the muscle in her other thigh. "But we only picked her up on Santo 'n she slept right through the flight here, so we don't really know about her practical ability yet." She gives a glance toward the beach and purses her lips a bit. "Hmm. Well, I guess I get a bit tunnelvisioned when I run," she says and gives a nod to Saienne. "Yeah, well, Urving has his own business to run, so we can't always count on him. That leaves us with Suji to fly 'n that's not exactly optimal."


"Do you know how much longer we'll be here?" wonders Tyr over to Sainnequirking his brow at the Second Mate. "I mean, it's lovely. I'd love to stay forever, but I was just all curious."


Brianna smiles. "You should try, Sai...really..the water's nice.. but... much as I enjoyed it, I need to go wash the saltwater out of my hair before it turns crunchy.." She grins and smiles, "Thanks for the idea Tyr. I haven't had a picnic in years." She then trudges off with a wave.


"She, is it? An' flight school trained an' all? Well, all clear bonuses in a pilot, I reckon." She pushes her sleeves further up past her elbows and rubs her face with one hand. "We're still after another engineer. Styger din't last more than five minutes an' Ronnie's got his gorram hands full without some kind of help." She shakes her head and pats Grace's hull gently. "Poor thing - she surely ain't gettin' the attention she deserves." Saienne shakes her head at Tyr. "Ain't it just? But I ain't got no idea - I reckon it's between the Captains still." She grins at him. "But I ain't complainin' - you an' me are at least havin' a holiday from haulin' chickens around." Brianna's parting comment causes Saienne to nod, the feather in her hat dipping with the motion. "I reckon I will, an' all -" A squint up into the cloudless sky. "- Just... when it ain't so gorram life-sappingly hot."


Tyr laughs as Brianna makes her way into the ship. He just watches after her for a moment before turning back. "Well, it's cool in the water, Sai. It's great. But I know what you mean about the ship. Bree said she knows a little bit about how to tinker."


"Not too long, I hope," Matty mutters under her breath and stops stretching her muscles, running hands through her damp hair, looking refreshed even with her sweat-sheened skin, hair and clothes. She watches as Brianna dashes off, then turns back to the other two O'Malley crewmembers, a mock warning expression crossing over her face at Saienne's words. "Don't be thinkin' of stealing Ash from us. If it weren't fer her, Suj'd be workin' himself to death, what with bein' captain and engineer both."


"You ain't wrong." Saienne says solemnly. "I know you ain't wrong." The paper fan shivers as she tries to create a little breeze in the space under her hat brim. "But equally I know I ain't movin' none yet neither." She grins crookedly at him, and then nods. "I do believe the Captain knows that, an' I ain't got no doubt her ability to tinker'll be taken full advantage of." A pause. "But there's tinkerin', ain't there, an' then there's overhaulin' an' maintainin' the engine so as we don't end up driftin' dead in the water or explodin' in a fiery ball of... fire." She shrugs, a fluid gesture that causes her feather to bob and duck again, and then, at Matty's words, she turns to her. "Good gorram," she says, "You reckon I'm entirely fong luh? Bishop an' Ashlynn on the same gorram boat?" She grins. "Magic or misery in the makin', an' I ain't sure I'm willin' to risk it to find out which." Looking a little more serious, she adds: "An' besides, your Sujiko is too fine a gentleman for me to even want to plant the suggestion."


Tyr chuckles and shakes his head, going to lean up on the Grace next to Sainne. "That's all quite true, Sai. All quite true. Capn's been wanting me to be security, too, so I've been workin on my manly physique." He winks.


Matty tilts her head at Saienne and smirks a bit, though there a hint of regret and pain in her eyes. "Oh, I dunno. Seems to me that Suj wouldn't stand in the way o' young love, even if it meant losin' the second best engineer in the 'Verse..." She looks over at Tyr and looks him up and down after his comment on manly physique. "If you need any help, gimme a call. I can show you a few moves t' get outta tricky situations." Wink.


"Oh, Tyr," Saienne says, with a genuinely fond smile. "It ain't all about manly physique, you know." She points with her free hand to herself. "Look at me. Not so manly..." A pause, and she frowns abruptly. "Leastwise, I hope I ain't too manly. Assertive, certainly, an' solid an' steadfast... but surely not manly." She catches Matty's look and nods once, staying - for once - mostly silent in the face of her pronouncement. "Young love!" Is all she says, and it is said with an expression of equal regret - but significantly more humour than pain.


Tyr laughs at Matty's comment, squirming a little bit when he comes under her gaze. "Well," he replies. "If I find myself in need of some conditioning, I'll be sure you look you up." He winks back.


Matty chuckles at Saienne and gives a glance down her own curvy body as the other woman goes on about physique. "Hmm, yeah. Not all about muscle anyway," she notes and strikes a pose that might be some kind of defensive move in some kind of martial art style. "Technique and finesse 'n sometimes just downright dirty tricks are much more important than brute force."


"Dirty tricks," says Saienne, seriously. "Ain't never let me down yet." A pause. "Well, except that time with the rabbit snare, but that ain't neither here nor there because there ain't no trick'll get you out of somethin' like that..." She grins between Matty and Tyr. "An' ain't it so that I'm more of a dodger than a scrapper, anyhow?" But nonetheless, she nods as Matty explains somewhat.


Matty turns to look at Saienne, lifting a curious brow, relaxing her pose to stand with her feet apart and hands resting on her hips. "Rabbit snare?" she asks, wanting something more of that story. She gives a shrug at the woman's last comment, not knowing Saienne well enough to answer that question, so she looks over to Tyr to supply an answer. When he doesn't she glances back at Saienne, then back to Tyr. "Well, Hatch knows some really good tricks for doing that. Might wanna talk with him about it? Not a real good idea to rely on weapons alone.."


"It ain't so easy to learn," Saienne says, "When there ain't no one to teach you." She smiles lop-sidedly, adding her voice to Matty's. "Hatch'd be a good fellow to ask - an' I don't reckon he'd mind, neither." She pauses, rubs the line of her jaw with her thumb. "I really ain't got much wisdom in that area to impart, I regret to say." She shrugs again. "Most often, I reckon I just get lucky - or have fast enough legs to hotfoot it out of trouble, or a strong enough constitution to be able to take a beatin' an' recover." She grins in response to Matty's question and bends to roll up one of her trouser legs, revealing an ugly scar ringing round her foot at about ankle height. It is well healed now, but it would have been deep when it was inflicted. "Rabbit snare," she confirms. "On a job. Real gorram nasty job, an' all. Got myself led by the nose all around the 'Verse an' all I got for my trouble was to get strung up in a dark warehouse." She shakes her head. "Ain't I but a martyr to my work?" Her question, it appears, is rhetorical, for it causes her to laugh aloud.


Tyr winces a little bit at the story of Sai's injury, as if wincing along in sympathy with her. "Well, Sai, doesn't that sound like a bitch," he says. "Course I've been bucked from horses, almost run over by cattle, and all of that."


Matty winces at the scar around Saienne's ankle and bends a little closer as if to examine it. "Nasty bit of injury that," she says and straightens, then nods in agreement with the other woman's first statement. "Yeah. Martial arts ain't exactly something you learn from books." She looks over at Tyr and gives a crooked grin. "Not much cattle where I grew up. Not a whole lotta horses neither. I probably couldn't even mount one the right way round."


Saienne lets her trouser leg fall back to cover the scar. "Ain't it, though?" She says, thoughtfully. "Would have been a gorram sight worse an' all if Lucinda hadn't worked her magic on it." Saienne lets the subject drop and listens to Matty. She waves her fan lazily and appraises Tyr with a careful gaze. "Well, if you've survived horses an' cattle, I reckon you'll survive a bit of scrappin'. A body has to have a constitution of iron an' bones carved from stone to work with livestock, ain't it so?" She nods at him. "But in all seriousness, I reckon you should have yourself a quiet word with Hatch if you're wantin' to learn."


"Then that's what I reckon I'll do," agrees Tyr to Saienne, nodding his head to her. "That is, have a chat with him and see what I'll be able to learn."


Matty nods in agreement with Saienne's assessment of Hatch. "Aye. Not many people as good as Hatch at what he does..." she says and gives a glance toward the Grace O'Malley, then looks over at Tyr with a grin. "Just be prepared fer a few bruises and scrapes, y'know?"


"Oh, indeed. Learnin' of the most practical kind, ain't it? Cargo bay resoundin' to the sound of grown men throwin' each other at the bulkhead." She peers at Tyr from beneath the brim of her hat. "You got insurance?" Saienne shakes her head. "No matter - we got Lucinda. Ain't goin' to be no medical fees." She grins crookedly.


Tyr chuckles. "I can pick myself up and dust myself off as well, you know," agrees the ranch hand. "But yeah. Lu's a good folk to have around, that's for certain."


Matty laughs at Saienne and holds up her knuckles for inpection. While they're not exactly bruised, there's certainly a good amount of callus there. "Still better t' have a real life blood 'n guts person to spar with than having to beat the stuffing out of a punch bag," she notes and clenches, then unclenches her fists. "Good thing we got Morris now. He ain't a bad sparring partner."


"Well, I expect that's so if you've been bucked off horses an' nearly trampled by stampedin' cattle, back in your mis-spent youth." Saienne says to Tyr. She looks a little mournfully at Matty's calloused knuckles. "Oh, I don't know," she disagrees. "I reckon I can see the advantages of a punch bag." A pause. "The not punchin' back bein' chief among those." She looks sideways at Matty. "Morris? More new crew an' all?"


Tyr chuckles, and then shakes his head. "I ought to get on inside and scrub down," he says to the women. "But thanks for the lovely chatter." He winks and then heads on into Grace.


"That's the point, Sai.. The not punching back makes ya lazy and inattentive," Matty says and gives a random punch to the air. She forms her fist to a palm and waves to Tyr as he leaves. "Don't think we scared 'im off, do ya? And yeah, Morris is a new addition to the security department. Puts us up to a grand total of two."


"I don't suppose you're wrong for a minute, Matty," Saienne says, somberly. "But as I said - I ain't much for scrappin'. Far better at bein' the distraction - usually yammerin' away until the folk with me can take the opportunity to throw some punches." She shakes her head. "Course, that don't always work - not least when you're on your own." She grins again, looks directly at the other woman. "Still, ain't it always said that it's most sensible to play to one's strengths rather than fret after one's weaknesses? I reckon I could talk the hind leg of a gorram donkey if given the chance." This last is said with a safe degree of self-mockery. She looks up the ramp after Tyr. "Us? After his lunch with Bree? I reckon we might have been welcome relief!" She shakes her head. "Swimmin', my arse." She nods as Matty talks of Morris. "Us an' all. Kael ain't around, an' that leaves Hatch an' Brianna. An' me, nominally, but I reckon that was just because the Captain wasn't sure where to pigeonhole me in the first instance. Security I surely ain't!" Saienne tips her hat back and looks up at the evening sky. "You know, I reckon it's gettin' cool enough to move. I might meander down to the beach an' dip my toe in the water." And, so saying, she stands from her shaded spot and walks down the path towards the shore, fan flicking lazily in front of her face.


Matty chuckles and gives a slow nod, scratching at her sweaty arms. "I reckon I'll go find one of them streams in the forest and go rinse off.. 's good talking with ya, Sai. See ya later, okay?" she says and trails after Saienne, then deviates to head to one of the streams. At least it's freshwater and not salty and it help the water economy of the Chaos Theory.