It's Gonna Be a Bumpy Ride [Closed]

[Ceren Aatos]

"Ceren Aatos."

The voice came from behind them, the rough-around-the-edges First Mate apparently leaning on the doorframe with her arms folded. As always, there was a gun at her hip, and a knife flat to the small of her back. Her dark eyes regarded the two kids at the controls, and she had to wonder if she was starting to get older (mostly for using the word 'kids'), or the 'Verse's talent was getting younger. Either answer didn't seem savoury enough in Ceren's mouth, so she cast the thought off to one side.

"So you'll be the two makin' sure we ain't crashin'."

It was true, she'd been a little illusive and busy as of late. Just some personal stuff she was trying to take care of, but she was around all the same. If someone sort her out, Ceren could be found. Wasn't so big a ship. A few steps were taken forward as she pushed off the frame, boots thudding hollowly as she looked the pair over. Like she was assessing their usefulness, when in reality she was only seeing how nervous it made them. Jus' teasin'. A thumb had hooked in her gunbelt a moment before she peered between them at the console.

"Well, guess she's all yours, 'eh? Keep 'er upright, or they'll be gui t'pay."

A finger stabbed in Dunmar's direction a long and almost threatening moment before the straight face dropped and she laughed a little. A slap was given to the pilot's shoulder in good humour.

"An' try t'relax. At least if you do crash the ship, higher chance Cap' can' kill ya if'n yer already dead." That was a cheeful little "brightside"..

Again, she'd chuckle. Just jokin' around with the rookie.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie jumped a bit as he heard the voice behind them, and he spun his chair to face Ceren as she walked in. He laughed a bit when he saw her, shaking his head. "Miss Aatos, I'm so glad to finally meet you." As the First Mate regarded the pair, he chewed on his lip for just a moment, not quite sure what to make of the situation yet. "Yeah, we'll be the ones keepin' this beauty in the black and in one piece. I'm thinkin' so far we're gonna make a good team." He chuckled and nodded up to Kalli before looking back to Ceren.

Then when the finger was stabbed in his direction, he raised an eyebrow, obviously looking a bit nervous, though trying his damndest to look like he wasn't. When Ceren chuckled and slapped his shoulder, he relaxed and nodded, even laughing at her next comment about the Captain not being able to kill him if he's already dead.

"Hah, yeah, that's .. that's a good point I suppose." And, for half a second, Jamie remembered all the things he was taught about Ben when he was younger, and despite the fact that he didn't believe a gorram word of it now, he still decided it was best to stay on his good side and, well, keep everyone afloat.

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli blushed as she watched Jamie poke around at the controls of the ship. She had never thought she would be offered a chance to fly a ship. He seemed sweet to offer and she wonder if he was serious about teaching here."I'd love to learn but I just don't know if I'd have the skill for it. It's nothing like keepin' er runnin. Anyone can learn to keep it workin. She told him. "I'd offer ta teach ya about it but it's kinda borin' compared to what you do."

She was excited by the prospect and couldn't hide it he face was cover by the biggest smile of her life. She stared out the window and imagined seeing the stars fly by when the ship was traveling the verse.

"I still can't believe I'm part of a crew on a ship. I always dreamed of being out there in the stars. Just can't believe it is finally happening. she confessed to Jamie. She felt comfortable around him. She had finally made it to a ship and she was starting to feel at home.

Then Ceren walked in. "Oh Ceren it's good ta see ya." She replied. She listened as the two exchanged word with each other. She took a step back as to not be in the way of the "Yeah don't you worry the Orlando is in good hands I know I can keep everything workin the ways it's supposed to and I know Jamies has got the rest covered."

[Ceren Aatos]

The fact that he was trying was cause enough not to torment the poor boy any longer. He was supposed to be flying the ship, after all. All the tough-guy stuff was reserved for her and the other strong-arms aboard this ship. Though, she figured there were more than enough people to teach him a thing or two. Ceren included. Still, he had the determination to make it on this ship, and she was certain that was all Ben needed when he hired him.

She'd been noting the exchange between these two kids, and took the moment to suppress a grin before nodding to Kalli. Good to know she knew every face on board for now. Unless there were anymore cropping up somewhere she didn't know about. Helped with the security side of things. Between Ben, herself, Sidney and possibly even the good doctor-- he had that look about him-- his crew wasn't gettin' compromised any time soon.

"Well, it was nice meetin' y'both. Now I know names and faces, so I won't be callin' anyone "hey you!" when it comes to it."

It appeared the First Mate was in an easy-going mood. Had been for a spell since signing up here. Back before she got hired, she'd been prett surly and had a general bad attitude. Though, drink'd do that to a person, and she had been on the down-and-out, brawling with boozehounds.

So it was refreshing when she grinned between them, looking from pilot to mechanic.

"You two kids have fun. Keep 'er flyin'."

The First Mate turned about on her heel and strolled off the bridge.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie watched and listened to Ceren as she spoke, even smiling a bit when he realized that she did, in fact, seem easy-going, at least at this moment. Sidney was definitely gruff, and while Jamie liked him, he didn't quite know how to respond. The Doc seemed quite nice, though it would be a lie to say that Jamie wasn't at least a bit intimidated, just because Jamie was a fish out of water at the moment. And Ben, whom he'd honestly barely spoken to, was also nice enough, but the new pilot was quite intimidated if only because of everything he knew about Ben and the war.

Jamie nodded and smiled as Ceren spoke. "It was very good to meet you as well, Miss Aatos. We'll definitely keep 'er in the air, flyin' pretty." And as Ceren left, he turned his attention back to Kalli. "There's really nothin' to it. Can I be honest with you? Half of these buttons and switches aren't even used all that much, mostly for out of the way things and instances that don't come up that much. But, they are all important, just in case."

Then he sat, staring out the window a moment, a smile creeping on to his face again as he thought. He thought about a lot of things in that short moment, about his upbringing, about Miranda, about how things had changed. "Can I be honest with you, Kalli?" He paused then, thinking, questioning whether or not he should actually say anything. But, hiding things wasn't going to win any points, and though he wasn't ready to talk about his upbringing to the vets of the ship, he figured Kalli would be the best to talk to. "I was raised on Ariel. I mean, I was a little kid when the war broke out. I .. I was so .." He took a deep breath, thought a moment, then continued. "I was so dedicated to the Alliance, y'know? I mean, at the time. It was what I knew, it was all I knew. Everything got so .. crazy when we found out about Miranda. I was so comfortable on Ariel, everything was going so great, but then .. it was like I just couldn't stay there, y'know? It was as if, if I stayed there, I would be supporting something that I couldn't support anymore. Nobody I knew understood, and they all treated me like I was crazy. That's why when I finally got out here, and I met Ben, and he offered me a job .. it was like a dream come true. It's so.. unbelievable how much things have changed in just a couple years."

Then Jamie looked up to her, red-cheeked, and chuckled a bit nervously at himself. "I'm sorry, I'm babbling."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli was stunned by Jamie's confession of his past. The talk of the alliance. the notion of the uprising, the very thing that lead her to be our here in the black on the Orlando. Every work he spoke was like a piercing blade from her past as well.

She had spent her youth on a Alliance ranch where her mother worked and died during the uprising, by the very people she inspired to fight the alliance after she lost her faith in them. How the incident on Miranda triggered it all. It made her wonder haw things would have been had she had people to told her she was crazy to act against the alliance.

She could tell it was hard for him to talk about it. It made Kalli wonder what he went through what the uprising meant to him. How he may have suffered through that time."It's alright I have a habit of babbling too. I remember the uprisin' myself. It was a hard time fer all of us I think especially people our age i think." She told him. Kalli wanted to tell him more. She wanted to tell him all of what happened but she had tried so hard to forget it ever happened and she wasn't sure how to say it. "I felt outcast durin' those times too. My family was still with the Alliance and I just didn't know what I was doin."

She tried to put on a fake smile for him so he wouldn't see how she really felt. It was painful for her to talk about it and she felt like she would cry if she didn't fight it with everything she had in her. She had made it this far and she wasn't going to show them weakness, not now not ever. She was going to hold it back.

"I ended up leaving home back on Beaumonde. Just took the first ship I could get on and ended up on Persephone. It wasn't really what I expected. Ending up even deeper in the Alliance core then was but at least I got away from the uprising and everything that happened back then. she continued on "Just happy not that I am finally free here on the Orlando. I guess that's what we all have in common is we all just wanted to be free of any ties. Kalli just couldn't bring herself to go any deeper in to it at the moment at least as long as she didn't have to.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie stared out of the window as Kalli began to speak, nodding along, and even smiling a bit for a moment, at first. Admittedly, as far as their experiences went, Kalli's life was made much worse by the Uprising than Jamie's, although Jamie didn't know that. Sure, his life was torn out from underneath him, but nobody'd gotten hurt, really. Still, he agreed and empathised with Kalli's comments, and he turned in his chair to look at her.

And that's when he saw Kalli's face. Jamie may not have been the smartest kid, or the best at any one thing, but there were two things that had always gotten him through life; his ability to pilot any gorram ship he sat in, and his ability to read people, at least a bit. Not that it was fool-proof, but Jamie was generally one of those people who knew when someone was lying, or hiding something. And when he saw Kalli's face, and that smile she was putting on to mask .. whatever it was that was happening in her head .. Jamie's own smile faded.

He reached a hand out to touch her arm, looking up at her with a sigh. "Kalli.." He meant to continue with 'you can tell me', or 'get it off your chest', or something like that, but something told him, in the back of his mind, that this wasn't the time for prying. Hell, up in space, there'd be plenty of time to trade stories of how terrible everything was. Now wasn't that time. So he plastered a smile up on his face and nodded.

"We've got a fresh start, you're right. I mean, look at us, this group. We got a bunch of Browncoat war vets and a couple of gorram Alliance-raised kids. None of that matters, 'cept we're all here to be free, like you said. And we are." He stood up from his chair, pocketing his hands and turning to look out the window once again, his fake smile turning into a real one. "We are."

[Kalli Ann Bernett]

Kalli paused as Jamie touched her arm. She could tell he knew she was holding back and that he felt sympathy for her. They had gone through the same things growing up. It was good to have someone that knew the hardship of growing up during those times. All the old vets of the ship had their own hardships with the alliance and everything that had happened but it was still worlds apart.

It struck her when Jamie said that they were free. it was what she kept talking about but it really hadn't sunk in till just them. They were free, free to live their own life, free to chose, free to finally be who and what they wanted to be.

"We are aren't we, finally free with nothing but the us and the black to take us wherever we want to go." Kalli said with a sound of awe in her voice. "We'll make the most of it right?" She took one more look up at the window and enjoyed the though of the future.

Kalli turned and walked to the door between the cockpit and the hallway leading back down in to the ship. "Thank you Jamie, it was fun talking to you. I look forward to having you on the Orlando." Kalli told him as she stepped in to the hallway and started making her way back down the hall.

[djfeelgood3008]

Jamie watched Kalli as she seemed to be in thought, looking out through the window. He couldn't help but smile as he could almost see the revelation on her face, and it helped to reinforce his own thoughts on the subject at hand. He always knew it, since he set foot on the ship, but talking about it with someone else made it all the more real. "We'll be alright. We got a good crew, here, and not to toot our own horns, but I think they're lucky to have as much as we're lucky to have them. We got a lot of skill on this ship."

As Kalli turned to walk out, the pilot stood from his chair and took a glance out the window, then looked back to Kalli as she spoke. He smiled warmly and nodded, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Thanks for talkin' to me, Kalli, it was fun. You have a good night. Sounds like Captain Barrow's got somethin' lined up for us with the museum." He chuckled and turned back toward the window, walking right up to it and looking out.

Then, just as Kalli got out the door, he turned back toward her. "Hey, I'm gonna hold you to the promise of teaching me about Orlando's engine. Don't think I forgot already." With that, he winked and waved to her, and as she left, he sat back down in the chair, his chair. Things can only get better, he thought to himself with a smile. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.