[Log] Let them eat cake!

===============================================
Eavesdown Docks, Persephone
===============================================
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."