[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?"