"Ah, Charlie, you ain't yet met Geoff.  New recruit." Kale says, motioning Geoff to join them.  "An' Valon ain't too far off, just like making sure my 'ol girl is well."

Geoff laughed and shook his head lightly as he walked over to join them. "Naw, I work fer my passage, thank ya very much. I'm Geoff, Geoff Wolfe. Cap'n hired me yesterday after a bit o' a rough spot in a bar. I guess I musta done somethin' impressive 'cause he hired me as an extra bit o' muscle. I don't rightly remember. I was drinkin' more than a bit, dong ma?", he remarked in a friendly tone as he held a hand out to Charlene to shake.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:52, Tue 03 Jan 2006.

"Just like any other woman, Captain.  You treat her right, and she treats your kind right back.  You know that."  Another smile creeped on her face as she slid onto her belly on the catwalk, reaching out and just touching Geoff's hand.  "Better introduction when work is over.  I'm Charlie."  She slid back up, walking across the catwalks and up into the engine room, set on making Destiny prepared for departure...


-------->Engine Room 1

"You wanna close 'er up?" he says to Geoff, "You know how it works right?  Or do ya want a tutorial?"

Geoff just shrugged and gave the woman a light salute as she left. "Sure, business before pleasure and all of that. See ya later then.", he remarked with a grin and then looked to the captain.

"Ya might want ta show me. I was never trusted much with the mechanics o' things. My old captains were afraid I'd get drunk one night and open it up and kill us all. I'd never do that, but my previous crews weren't exactly the most trustin' o' people, dong ma?", he said and chuckled lightly as he glanced back in the direction that Charlie had gone, "So, what does she do on the ship....besides improvin' the scenery, I mean."

Kale laughed at Geoff's account of what other Captain's thought of their crews, that's the problem these days, no trust. But when Geoff brought up Charlie's improving the scenary he couldn't help but cast a sideways glance.  Charlie and him went way back now, he was a bit over-protective of the girl sometimes, and as much as he liked Geoff, he didn't want to see Charlie hurt by a man with an appetite for women.  He was sure Geoff noticed his odd look, but that was fine.  "She's the mechanic, right good one too.  She's a real nice girl, too nice." he stopped talking there, but he was sure the message got through.  Charlie's too nice for you so be careful around her.

Then Kale smiles, not wanting to pull down the mood.  He crosses to the door controls. "This one closes her up, this one opens her.  These ones here seal the air lock. and ramp controls are right below it.  Trust you can handle shuttin' her up." Kale says.

Geoff just continues to grin easily, noticing the look but not commenting on it or on any of his comments about Charlie. Ah, I see. Too good for the violent drunk with loose morals. Ok then. Sure enough. Don't want to be crossin' a line when it looks like ya may have a good thing here, Geoff. So keep that in mind., he thought as he followed after the captain, shrugging to himself in a resigned fashion.

He watches as the captain shows him the controls and how they work and then nods to the captain as he asks him if he can handle shutting it up. "Sure 'nuff, Cap'n. I got it. Seems simple enough.", he said as he sidled up to the controls and did as he was told. Geoff can pick up most simple tasks easy enough and closing up the ship isn't all that difficult, after all.

"I love my crew." Kales says to Geoff in response to Ren's smartass remark over the intercomm, as Geoff closes up the hull, He starts making his way up to the bridge then, climbing the stairwell towards the dining room.

---------Dining room -------->

Geoff laughs lightly in response to the captain's comment about his crew and steps away from the control as he closes up the cargo bay doors. He looks about the cargo bay and shrgs, not really knowing what to do with himself now. So he just moves to the upper walkway and head into the dining room after the captain.

------>dining room

Geoff walks onto the metal grating of the catwalk on the second level of the cargo bay, sighing lightly and looking around lazily. He walks down the metal stairs at a casual pace as he draws his knife again and begins tossing it fom hand to hand in an idle manner. As he steps onto the wide open space of the cargo bay floor, he begins to whistle a slow tune and walk around the place casually. "What ta do, what ta do? The interminable boredom begins....", he remarks to the empty space of the cargo bay.

Charlie's head poked out of the engine room door, looking sideways at the cargo bay, long hair draping down like a curtain or a tail behind her.  The sound of a voice, especially coming from an empty room, is definitely something worth finding out.  Besides, when one was speaking and no one else was in the room, that could mean a lot.  When it's hired muscle, and they might be potentially crazy...well, that's definitely something else all in itself that could shape up as a situation...

Geoff continued tossing the knife from hand to hand as he looked about the cargo hold again. "Gotta be somethin' ta ruttin' do round here. Enough ta drive a fella crazy, it is...oh, hell.", he said as he saw Charlie's head peeking out from the engine room, causing him to miss catching the knife and sending it clattering to the floor. He looked after it with a light curse before looking up towards Charlie.

"Uh...yo. Heh, uh...didn't know there was anybody 'round here. Ya know, otherwise I woulda been talkin' ta them instead o' myself. Which is probably what got yer attention in the first place, huh? Uh...now I know it may seem a bit strange, me talkin' ta myself and all, but I was a bit bored and there was nobody else about. I ain't to fond o' bein' stuck out in the black, ya see. Get a bit bored and stir crazy...uh...maybe crazy ain't the right word.", he said and then sighed a bit as he scratched his head, "Uh...look let's start over. We didn't get a proper introduction last time. Geoff Wolfe, hired muscle, hired gun and all around drunken thug, nice ta meet ya."

Charlie smiled a bit, stepping down around the stairs as Geoff began to explain himself.  He was speaking as if she didn't comprehend, which was far from the truth...hell, she already knew she was older than him.  Boys will be boys, of course.  "Don't act so nervous, or like you need to explain yourself.  I'm just up here all the time."  She pointed back to the engine room door.  "Ain't much for me to do around here except keep Destiny running, and she runs like a dream, so...not much for me at times but to stand around."

She finally stepped down onto the ground floor of the cargo bay, hopping the last few steps, her boots resounding loudly on the grated steel.  She had changed from last night's greasy coveralls into something more casual, but something that wasn't meant for the wear and tear...then again, she had said there wasn't a lot for her to do.  She smiled again, walking over to Geoff and holding out her hand to him.  "Charlene Bourdain, but just Charlie works...it works for everyone else."

Geoff shook her hand with a sheepish grin and a shrug. "Didn't mean ta be nervous or such. Want ta make a good first impression though and didn't think talkin' ta myself would do it. Anyway, nice ta meet ya, Charlie.", he said in a friendly tone,"So, standin' 'round aside, what do ya do ta keep all this peace and quiet from drivin' ya up the ruttin' walls? Because, if ya got any tips ta help me with that, they'd be most welcome. Like I said, I ain't much fer bein' stuck in the black. Peace and quiet just rubs me the wrong way..."

"Right, right.  First impressions and such, I know them.  You don't need to worry, I usually don't peg people myself...the quiet one, you know me."  Charlie nodded, shaking back before she let go, setting her hands in her back pockets as she looked back at Geoff.  "There's not a lot to do out here.  Read, write, think...all those sorts.  There's not a lot of drink, nor a bar, so I suppose you'd have brought your own sortsa spirits with you.  Other than that, it's why we're all so close up here...you get to being around a group of people for so long, you start to think of them as family."  There was a shrug, looking back around.  "The biggest excitement is when we dock, but even then, I don't leave much...it's when I'm the busiest."

Geoff grins wistfully, nodding slightly. "Ah, family. Y'all must be close then. Heh. Must be nice. Can't say I've ever known the feelin', but I figure it must be nice.", he said before shrugging a bit ,"Ah, well. Readin' and writin' ain't never been my cup o' tea and thinkin' never leads ta anythin' good, in my opinion. Now, I did bring my own liqour aboard, but the cap'n was pretty clear he didn't want me drinkin' too heavy. Normally that's what I'd be doin', dong ma? Drinkin' myself into a stupor so I could be blank fer the trip, but the cap'n says no and I'll respect his wishes. It's his boat, after all, and I'm just happy fer the job."

He then sighs and clasps his hands behind his head in a lazy manner. "Guess that just means I'm gonna have ta wait 'til we dock fer any excitement then. I expected as much. Not much need fer somebody like me in the black.", he said in a light tone,"Don't leave much? Heh. That's a damn shame. Missin' out, if ya ask me. Nothin' better than hittin' a new port and seein' what there is ta be seen. Of course, if I'm honest, I don't usually much remember my time dirtside 'cause it's my chance ta get fresh liqour and I take advantage o' that in a big way."

"Surely you've got family.  Everyone has family, everybody comes from somewhere.  I mean...less they're dead, then I'm sorry to be bringing it up."  Charlie looks at the grease on her hands, taking note as she wipes them off on the legs of her jeans, looking almost embarrassed over it.  "I'm gonna guess you're not from a small planet, then.  You've gotta understand, I'm from the low side of Whitefall, part of the smalls.  We didn't have constant entertainment, so you end up making your own."  She had a bit of a satisfied smile, turning around to sit on the last step of the catwalk, resting her arms on her knees.

"When we hit dock, it's one of the few times I can get to work on the outside of Destiny short of a suit.  When we're drifting like this, slowly heading towards our spot, is when I don't have any work to do.  You'll see when we land in Valon.  Of course, you're probably out with the captain, doing the strongarm part."  She smirked a bit.  "Don't worry, I dont' envy you at all."

Geoff grinned lightly and shrugged again as she spoke of family. "I'll be damned if I know if my family is dead or not. They left me 'fore I could even talk properly and the only thing I remember 'bout 'em is the sound of the walkin' away. So never had a family ta speak of.", he said with a sigh, "As fer the rundown piece o' dirt I begrudgingly call home, it weren't too big or too small, really. Just busy 'nuff fer me ta find a fight or a drink or somethin' else ta pass the time when I was growin' up."

He then looks to her with a nod. "Ah, I see. Guess I could see how ya'd be too busy ta get off of the ship when we hit dock. Bein' in charge o' keepin' this boat runnin' is probably a big job.", he said with a light laugh,"Heh. Definitely far more complex than havin' ta play the tough guy fer the cap'n. Uh...just outta curiousity, there a specific reason ya don't envy me that position? Like some sort o' bad track record fer the hired muscle on this here crew? 'Cause that may be somethin' I wanna know..."

"Sorry, I don't mean to bring up bad blood on the family."  Charlie frowns as she speaks, getting quiet again as she looked down at her feet, biting her lower lip for a second.  She manages to continue, still keeping herself quiet.

"Most of our help...they don't die, they just leave after a while.  Maybe we're boring, maybe we don't take the big money...I don't know.  I don't really enjoy guns, you know what I mean?  I mean...hurting people isn't anything I've got a use for, less they're trying to hurt me..."

Ren walks in looking bleary eyed with his clotes at bit askew, fresh from one of his normal "piloting" naps quickly scanning the bay he notices Geoff and Charlie having a conversation, feeling in a conversational mood he walks over "Hey mia mia" he says to charlie and scritches her on the head "Hey geoff" with a nod "how ya'll doin"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:51, Wed 04 Jan 2006.

Charlie leans into Ren's scratches, smiling up at him, losing her quiet demeanor.  Whether shy or bashful or anything else, it doesn't take much to get a smile out of the girl.  "Hey baby bear.  We're just talking about...well, I guess we were talking about home, or something like that.  Nothing else but."  There's a slight shrug, tossing her head to get some of the dark hair out of her face...

Geoff shrugs noncomittally about the family comment. "Ain't no bad blood ta have. Can't hold a grudge if'n I don't know 'em. 'Sides, there ain't no point ta holdin' grudges. End up hurtin' in the long run.", he remarked and then laughed lightly.

He then shrugged again with a light grin. "Understandable not ta want ta court violence. That's why they hire guys like me. Ain't nothin' else I'm good at, but killin' and hurtin'.", he said and then smiles widely,"Can't understand anybody leavi' 'cause o' boredom though. I mean, first time out, cap'n got a sword thrown at him. That's excitement right there!"

He then looks to Ren as he shows up and gives the man a light salute in greeting. "Hey there, Ren. I trust we ain't gonn crash into nothin' or else ya wouldn't be out here, eh?", he said with a joking grin.

"even if we did no one would notice out here... honestly, i'm not sure, we could die any minute" Ren said with a smirk. "how ya likin' the ship so far? 'tween me and Charlie here you're lookin at the heart and brains of the ship." Ren looked over to charlie then and gave her a playfull wink.

"A sword?"  Charlie looked back at Geoff, eyebrows raised.  "I didn't hear nothing about a sword bein' thrown at him.  I'm guessing that means Kale is alright, though, right?"  She managd to catch Ren's wink at her, but with the thought of the captain being impaled put in her mind, she doesn't pay it much mind.

"Everything went down with work, right?  I mean, no one's killed or hurt, and we're getting paid, right?"

Geoff chuckled lightly and nodded to Ren. "Nice ta be so reassured 'bout our safety there, Ren.", he said and then looked from Charlie and then back to Ren,"Hearts and brains, eh? Which is which. That might be information I need to know later, after all."

He laughed lightly and then nodded again. "But, seriously, it's a good ship and crew ya got here. The passengers don't exactly seem to agree with me, but that's ta be expected.", he said and then looked to Charlie with a reassuring grin,"Oi, yep. Everythin' went off fine. Nobody hurt and money in tow. No problem."