Night Cap
Invictus - Crew Commons =>Invictus<=
This is the ship's common room, a place for the crew to relax, eat, and talk. In the middle of the room is a big table with comfortable chairs placed around it. To the port side near the Med Bay's entrance is a simple kitchen beside a basic storage rack for food and drinks. Starboard, the entry to the Crew Quarters can be found, as well as a number of large lockers for the crew's kit storage. To the room's aft are placed some couches opposite to a Cortex terminal and a large screen where currently some sort of gaming console appears to be hooked up. Between the couches, a small table holds some books and other things to read. Finally, to the front near the entrance to the Captain's Quarters, a corkscrew stairway up to the Bridge can be seen.
Sunan gently waves away Gabriella's offer of a cigarette, though he does raise his head as Grey begins speaking again. After he finishes, Sunan nods his head a few times. "I still do wear a brown coat. But... I know how to pick my battles, as well..."
"Thanks." Gabriella says with a brief smile to Zahara, "Might as well leave it within reach." She says, glancing to the room at large as the conversation continued, tapping out a cigarette and lighting it, letting a lazy smoke ring drift from her lips a moment later. "Looks like a celebration's in order, then." Gabriella says, giving a smile to the cousins. "Welcome aboard!"
After a pause, Jiao sets his drink down on the table nearest him and stands with a slight smile. "Glad to be aboard, thank you." He stands still briefly, contemplating, then nods to Zahara and grins. "Well.. on that note, I don't mean to walk out on my new crewmates, but I have to attend to other matters. Father, Gabriella shao jeh. Captain Grey, with your leave."
Grey stands, bowing his head to Jiao Long and Sunan. "Welcome to the Invictus, mates." He swings open a fairly large weapons locker with a grin. "Yer toys." He gestures down the Crew Quarters. "Your bunks." He starts to head for his own room, the door to the Captain's Quarters marked:
--CAPTAIN--
Grey Isabella Gabriella Genevieve
Pausing before his door, he casts a glance back to his new crewmen. "A few notes - I'd not make so many addenda usually, but it ain't a usual situation we're in. One, don't go aboard the Lady Antoinette, the Skyhook in our hold there, 'cause you might never get offa her again. Two, if the ramp goes down, at least one guard is on it at all times, no excuses, no explanations." He nods to the two of them. "An' expect ta be on St. Albans within the nex' few days. Weather's chilly out there, make sure ya got the warm clothes 'fore we lift off. Expect ta be doin' a fair bit a shootin', so iffen ya need ta familiarize yerselves with the new weapons... Do so." He nods yet again, and smiles. "Aye, at your pleasure, Mister Long. Night ta yas," he says, and gives a little wave to the gathered crew before disappearing into his quarters.
Alabaster Smith nods to those departing. "A good night to you, Captain. Sleep well, while you can." And to Jiao, he offers a smile. "Don't stay out too long, you never know when we'll have to make a quick departure."
Zahara nods her head back to Jian and offers a small, pleased smile before saying to the others. "Actually, thank you, Long shian shen. You reminded me of something else I must attend to. I wonder if you'd escort me outside?" she asks gently, her eyes twinkling.
Sunan dips his head to Gabriella, "Thanks... guess this means we'll be seeing more of each other." he glances toward Jiao, and then Zahara, smirking a bit. "Careful, Jiao." he advises, before rising to his feet and moving toward one of the lockers.
"Aye, I suppose it does." Gabriella says to Sunan, swinging her legs down over the edge of the couch, crushing out her cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table in front of her, setting aside her glass as well, uncorking the bottle and glancing towards Sunan. "Refill?" She questions, turning her gaze towards Alabaster as well, to include him in the offer. "Have a good night, you two." Gabriella says to Zahara and Jian Long with a slight smirk. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." She says more directly towards Zahara.
Pulling a slipshot from the locker, Sunan looks it over for a moment, before pulling a holster out as well. Those in hand, he pulls a commset, and a few small boxes of ammo from the locker as well. The latter go into his duster, then he turns back to Gabriella. "Well, actually, I'm going to go check out our sleeping quarters..." he holds up the holster and pistol, "And also take care of this."
Gabriella gives a smile and a nod to Sunan, setting the bottle back on to the table, and rescuing her own glass, leans back again, one leg crossing over the other at the knee. "Aye, make yourself at home." She says with a smile, letting her head fall back onto the back of the couch, watching the ceiling.
"Oh, aye." Gabriella says, glancing up from the pda she held in her hand, to where Sunan enters, flashing him a wide smile at his question and wink. "Especially since it's not my whiskey." She adds, leaning forward. Setting the pda onto the table, she uncorks the bottle once more, filling up his empty glass, and topping off her own, gesturing again to the couch beside her. "It's always easier to be more generous with somebody else's things." Gabriella says with an amused grin.
Alabaster Smith returns from a brief errand out of the room to check on the state of accommodations for the new guys. "Everything's set," he says agreeably. "Ah just had to make sure of things. Now then. Another drink, Ah hope?"
"'Ppreciate it." Sunan replies, snatching up the whiskey glass after it's refilled. He gestures with the glass toward the PDA on the table. "Torture techniques?" he asks in all seriousness, before raising the glass to his lips.
Wandering up from the cargo bay, Wren is in her usual state of disarray, a few streaks of green dye staining her hair and forehead where she's brushed it away from her eyes. Pausing at the entrance to the Commons, she takes in the new person with a curious frown, looking from him to Alabaster as if expecting an answer to be written on the Preacher's forehead. The question Sunan asks draws her attention back to him, a shudder passing through her as her gaze returns.
Gabriella glances up to Alabaster with a smirk from where she sits on the couch, leaning over the coffee table, whiskey bottle in hand. "No, see, what I do, is I offer the drink, and then I deny you. Because I'm a whiskey tease, don't you know?" She says with a smirk, and an easy laugh. Looking back to Sunan, her lips form perhaps the most sincere smile most anybody in the room would've seen yet, "Didn't think you'd remember the offer." Gabriella says, "That's one of the files on there, but I was actually looking into some of the responses we've gotten from the missing person's posters." She answers, glancing back over her shoulder as the familiar scent of herbs met her nose, nodding to Wren in greeting. "Wren, Sunan. Sunan, Wren." She says by way of introduction. 'Cause that cleared it all up.
"Ah..." Sunan says, his mouth forming a round 'O' shape. "Well." he seats himself in his last position - the far end of the couch from Gabriella. "Anything promising? With the responses, I mean. Not the torture tactics." then, over the rim of the glass of whiskey, his eyes find Wren. They take in the smears, and the general appearance of the woman. "Uh... evenin'. Sunan Rettburg. I'm basically around to protect you?"
Wren glances from Sunan to Gabby as she gives introductions, one hand absently rubbing the back of her head for a moment. "Nice to meet you," she responds with a slightly strained smile, the words polished from long practice. "Everybody gets hurt, all the time," she adds, frowning a little.
Alabaster Smith chuckles at Gabriella. "Ah see how it is. A whiskey tease, eh? Ah will certainly remember that. For shame, it's not nice to tease the wounded preacher." He slowly settles back into a seat, as always being very careful with his back.
Gabriella nods in agreement with Wren's comment. "Maybe next time, you'll be the one the ship falls on." She grumbles in Sunan's general direction, her hand coming up to run along the edges of the fresh scar on her forehead, then looks up suddenly, alarmed. "Not that I want a ship to fall on you, or for you to get blown up or anything!" She states, suddenly realizing how that might have come across, a faint blush creeping over her cheeks. At which point, she rises to her feet, suddenly glad for the opportunity to be busy, and scoops up the bottle, hastily finding her way to Alabaster's side, popping the top and giving him a refill as well. "Just don't go telling the doctor, preacher man, or she'll have my hide." Gabriella warns Alabaster before slipping back across the room and into her seat.
"Uh, right. I'm going to try and make sure the person getting hurt is me, instead of... you?" Gabriella's outburst takes him by surprise, noticeable by the hike his brows take up his forehead. "Um..." he seems as if about to say something, before shaking his head. Lifting the glass to his mouth. Draining some of the liquid out of it, he brings it back down, setting it on a knee. "Er, so, father... how are you?" he calls awkwardly to the preacher.
Gabby's remark about ships falling comes just as Wren is dropping herself into one of the chairs, and she blinks at the woman in confusion. "I'm not a ship," she observes. "Just cuz I carry people around, it's not the same," she explains patiently, shaking her head at the blushing woman. That settled, she looks back to Sunan. "Why?" she wonders, until a faint suspicion begins to form. "Are you on the crew now?"
Gabriella looks back towards Sunan, once she was a bit more composed and after taking a long swallow of her drink... Gotta love liquid courage! "I just meant, that we all have our skills, and getting banged up and beaten on isn't one I'm all that great at." She pauses for a moment, with a small frown. "And don't particularly want to be, even though the lady Fates seems to think I should get some practice in it." She says with a sigh.
Alabaster Smith doesn't seem to be terribly chatty at the moment, content to drink as he watches the others. "Oh, Ah'm just fine," he tells Sunan. "It's been a long day and mah stamina's not what it used to be." He smiles at Wren. "We hired on Sunan and his cousin Jiao Long as security, just a little while ago."
Wren ohs softly, looking over to Alabaster as he explains. "So... there's more?" she asks, glancing back to Sunan rather anxiously. "Where?"
Alabaster Smith grins at Wren. "Ah believe our other newcomer had business to attend to back in town, for the moment. You'll meet him soon enough."
"Right, right..." Sunan agrees, momentarily overwhelmed. "Lady fates?" that gets a dry look from him. "I complained a lot about getting shot at during the war. Never did much to misdirect the bullets, though." he continues to sip idly from his drink. "Er, Wren? Right... Jiao Long and I, we're gonna do our best to protect you, and Gabriella, and the rest. We've had plenty of experience at this sort of thing, too... so... you're in capable hands."
"Aye, the three fates, maiden, mother and crone." Gabriella says to Sunan with a quick smile, before turning her gaze around the room to evaluate the level of everyone's glasses, to see if anyone was in need of a refill, taking a sip of her own. Her own glass switched hands, and a soft rattle is barely heard, as the orange plastic bottle gets slipped out of her satchel, and then disappears, her hand raising to her lips for a brief moment before sliding up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
Nibbling on her lower lip, Wren looks from Alabaster to Sunan and back. "Okay..." she responds, shifting restively in her chair. "Ummm... Grey says I have to let the rest a the crew know that it might be possible, regardless of what precautions ya take, that you mi' be wanderin' out in the night-time, not quite in yer right mind," she states, the words rolling of her tongue in a different rhythm from the rest of her speech, the accent on her words also shifting.
Sunan shoots a curious look at Wren, subconsciously shifting the holster that now rides against his left leg. "How do you mean, not in our right minds?" he asks, before arching a brow and shooting a similar glance at Wren and Alabaster. "This have something to do with whoever took Gabriella... or?"
Gabriella glances towards Wren at her comments, a brow arching slightly, a smile tugging at her lips. "She also means that she might be doing the wandering." Gabriella says dryly, taking another sip from her glass after shifting it into her injured hand. "You need a drink?" She questions Wren, finally registering the fact she had been remiss in her hostess-like duties.
Alabaster Smith explains, simply, "Wren occasionally sleepwalks. Ah'll admit she's a trifle unusual, but we still like her a lot." He grins. "She also has a habit of repeating things the Captain says, so you might have to occasionally stop to reconfigure the statement. It's okay, though." He gives Wren a fond, paternal smile.
Shifting her gaze around from person to person, Wren follows the commentary and explanations of her statement around until finally Alabaster clarifies things. "I don't want to miss anything," she adds, apparently also in explanation. "A drink," she echoes Gabby, nodding thoughtfully. "Plants have to drink a lot."
A look of recognition passes over Sue's features. "Ah... I, er, see. Thanks, father." he gives Wren another look, this one, too, full of curiosity. "Hm." shrugging it off, he reaches inside his duster and pulls out a cigarette. He slips it into the corner of his mouth, then pulls out a lighter. "So, eh... Saint Albans. Gonna have to go buy some clothes, before we get off Persephone..." he rubs the side of his neck with his free hand, grimacing.
"Wren and I have an appointment downtown tomorrow... You're welcome to tag along if you like, at least long enough for us to point out where you can find the best deals." Gabriella says, raising to her feet and setting aside her glass, wandering away long enough to retrieve another glass and fill it for Wren, scooping up the glass and offering it to Wren.
Alabaster Smith smiles at Gabby. "Sounds like you ladies will have fun out on the town." He looks wistful. "Ah'm looking forward to when Ah've gotten mah strength back enough to go out and about seriously."
The curiosity is mutual, and Wren studies Sunan far more frankly, brow furrowing a little. "Are you mad?" she asks cautiously, before her attention is taken up with Gabby passing her the drink. "I do?" she blinks at this announcement as she takes the glass and lifts it to her lips. The liquid remains in her mouth all of about 0.005 seconds, before she is spitting right back into the glass, eyes wide.
"Aye, appointments to get our hair done." Gabriella says to Wren, her own brow furrowing slightly as she settles back onto the couch, legs folding up beneath her, slipping off the stilettos before reaching for her own glass, a laugh escaping at Wren's reaction before she stifles it, trying to do so before Wren has a chance to notice it, hiding it behind her glass. "Didn't I tell you?" She asks Wren, sounding honestly confused.
"An appointment?" Sunan asks Gabriella, pulling the cigarette from his mouth as he speaks. "What sort of appointment?" his gaze drifts to Wren, and he tilts his head curiously. "Mad, as in angry? Or mad, as in... insane? I don't think I'm either, really. Though, you know, they say the crazy ones don't know they're... crazy?" he shrugs indifferently, though he does give the woman an amiable wink - he notes her spitting the whiskey out, but aside from possibly thinking it a waste of good liquor, he has no outward reaction.
Alabaster Smith looks almost pained. "Oh dear. Ah suppose if one's not used to whiskey, it can be a little overpowering... but still." He shakes his head, and settles back in his seat.
Wren is quite thoroughly distracted by the whiskey, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water for several moments as she tries to get the taste out off her mouth. Dragging her eyes back to Gabby, she peers at the woman in confusion, and then shakes her head. "Maybe I didn't hear right," she says, rubbing her mouth with the back of one hand. "Mad is something hot and sharp, poking," she answers Sunan, shaking her head a little. "Crazy is... different," she says with a little pause, mouth twisting slightly. Her gaze slides over to Alabaster, and she repeats the word, "whiskey", soundlessly, lifting the glass again to examine the contents.
"Well, you're safe. Turns out I'm mild, dull, and prodding." Sunan rises, and cigarette in hand, bows slightly at the waist. Pausing, he rises back to his full height and takes a drag off of the cancer stick. "Anyway... I'm about to add sleeping to that list. I'll go along with you gals tomorrow." he offers a smile between the two, before turning the same feature on the preacher. "Father, glad to find somebody who shares my love." He motions toward the whiskey. "But you'll all have to excuse me." he begins to make his way through the commons, toward the crew cabins, smoke trailing from the lit cigarette in his hand.
Tilting her head, Wren watches Sunan as he makes his little bow with a bemused sort of fascination. Her attention then returns to the beverage in her glass. "Whiskey," she repeats once more, adding, "distilled from fermented grain mash and aged in wooden casks..." Her voice trails off as she considers the light passing through the liquid. Bringing the glass close to her face again, she takes a cautious sniff, and then a very small sip.
"That sounds about right," Gabriella says to Wren with a light chuckle, topping off her own glass before glancing up to Alabaster. "Need another, preacher man?" She asks, glancing to Sunan as he goes to step out, giving him a small smile. "G'night. And sweet dreams." She says, before looking back to Alabaster to await his response. "It takes a bit of getting used to, Wren... but if you're looking to get lost, or forget, a whole lotta this is a good way of doing it." She replies.
"It's warm," Wren murmurs, staring at the liquid in the glass for another moment before she lifts her gaze back to Gabby. "Mislaid, abandoned," she comments, head canting to one side as she speaks. "All of this past, all of us dust and forgotten..." Her gaze sharpens on the woman. "You look for it."
Alabaster Smith smiles at Gabriella. "One more, Ah suppose, though if Ah indulge too much, you just know the Doctor will have mah hide." He seems comfortable for the moment, drinking and spending time with his crew. One possessed by the imp of the perverse, the other just plain possessed.
Gabriella gives a glance towards Wren at her comment, a flicker of a frown visible for the briefest moment at the girl's comments, brows furrowing for a moment. "I look for a lot of things." She says with a shrug, drawing upright, tucking the bottle under her arm, meandering across to where Alabaster sits, collapsing onto the other side of the couch before uncorking the bottle and refilling his glass. "What you don't tell, I won't." She says with a smirk.
Wren takes another small sip of the amber liquid, her gaze wandering away from Gabby as she does. "Didn't see, didn't hear," she mutters, shaking her head. "But I'll know," she adds, a yawn stretching her jaw until it pops. "Purple," she adds, swiping at her watering eyes with one hand.
Alabaster Smith grins at Gabriella. "Ah'll hold you to that, then. Ah reckon Ah can trust you like you trust me." He takes a sip of his drink, happily.
Gabriella glances again to Wren at her continued comments, a moment of something akin to unease crossing her face, but fading rapidly. "Purple... " Gabriella repeats, with a shake of the head and a sigh, before taking a sip of her drink and leaning back, bare feet curling beneath her, glancing back to Alabaster. "Aye... I'm incredibly trustworthy, didn't you get the memo?" She asks with yet another small smirk.
"Purple," Wren echoes Gabby, putting her glass down beside the chair. "Blooms die, you can't just steal'em," she adds as she stands up, expression vague. "I have to go," she states, wandering steps taking her toward the stairs leading down to the cargo bay.
Alabaster Smith grins at Gabriella. "Ah suspect you are, as long as it suits you, mah dear. You don't strike me as the sort to stab someone in the back unnecessarily."
Gabriella frowns again at Wren's ramblings, looking for a moment concerned until she glances to the girl's drink, which was still mostly full, at which point she sighs, and shakes her head once again. "Sweet dreams." She murmurs to the woman before turning her attention back to Alabaster. "Can't say as I've ever considered myself the stabbing type, in all honesty." She admits, "Tranqing, maybe." She adds with a smirk.
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