A Beautiful Boat.

[soraking13]

Mason looked at the ship that stood before him. A once beautiful thing, he could tell. Now it looked as though it was in disrepair. Mason took notice of dents and scratches on the outer shell. It was obvious that this boat had been through a lot. Patting the vessel, Mason stepped back to get the full view again.

Mason looked for someone whom he could ask for passage aboard the ship. Making his way around the ship, he only admired it more from the outside. Most of the passenger ships he had been on weren't made for speed, but the sleek design of this craft was was identified it.

Finding no one around the ship, Mason decided to knock on the hanger door. Banging it as hard as he could, maybe someone was inside the thing. He smiled imagining where this heap of metal had been, and where it would be going. He pounded on the thing again, this time even harder. Making sure that whoever was in there was up.

He walked back to where his luggage was and sat on the larger suitcase. His blond hair blowing in the wind, and a cloud of dust disturbed his vision. He pulled to color of his leather jacket up to block some of the dust from his face, and waited for someone to come.

[phantomseige]

Leighton had been shaving when he heard the knocking. At first he made nothing of it, figuring the crew, or the wind, or some other unimportant coincidence had made the noise (he had heard at one time simply that old ships creak sometimes from a man who seemed like a wizened pilot, so...), but when the banging continued, he decided it worthwhile to check it out. The doctor flipped closed the straight razor he was using, glanced at his half-shaved and half-shaving cream covered face, decided against wiping it clean, and began to walk outside, stopping only to grab one of the handsets for the ship intercom.

He exited the ship through the cargo bay and started to walk around the hangar, looking for whoever was creating the ruckus. "Ari? That you?" he called out.

He approached the exit of the hangar and glanced outside. Sitting there was a young man, looking far too decorated for the area. Leighton cocked his head a little. "Oh, uh, wasn't expecting...um..." The doctor glanced back at the ship; no one had exited after him. "Company, right...can I help you with something?"

[soraking13]

Mason stared at man who looked at him through the window. He laughed at the man's partially shaven face. A sign of poor character, coming out like that. The man was obviously not taught the right manners when he was growing up, or maybe he lost them. Either way Mason wanted aboard that ship, there was hardly any costumers here.

Smiling, and putting on the charm that companions are known for, Mason stated, "I'm looking for transport. Are you the captain of this ship?'

Mason pushed some hair out of his face, revealing his brown eyes.

"I can pay for the safe passage. I don't really care where I go, just as long as I get off this rock." Mason moved closer to the door. Holding back a laugh, he took out a red, fancy, money bag and shook it.

The sounds of the coins inside the bag clanged against each other. He smiled as he pulled one coin out of the bag. "As you can see, it is very real. Unlike most of the people on this rock."

[penny]

Penny had heard the ruckus coming from the cargobay and decided to check it out. She had been bored out of her mind lately since she and Rade drank all the booze aboard the Lenore. They needed to replenish their alcohol stack, fast.

She heard both the doctor's voice and an unknown one. Silently and stealthly like the thief she was she crept above them on the catwalk, until she was right underneath the newcomer.

When the blonde boy pulled out a bag of coins from his bag, Penny's interest had awoken.

"Ka-tching!" Penny thought as she climbed on the other side of the catwalk, and prepared herself to get down.

She let herself drop down without making any sound behind the man, unvisible to him but visible to the ship's doctor. She gestured a 'shhh' sign at the doc as she snuck toward pretty boy's bag.

Swiftly and silently she rifled through it, finding another bag of coins and some jewelry. She put them in the pocket of her military style jacket and then stood up behind the man. The poor sap had no idea he had been robbed.

"Mistakin' the doctor for the captain." Penny said, announcing her presence. "You don't travel much, do ya pretty boy?"

[phantomseige]

Leighton smirked as Penny berated the man for thinking he was the Captain. "Someday, you know," he started, waving his finger at Penny with some sarcasm, "I'll stop shaving and get mean and start hurtin' people instead of fixin' them, and then I'll be captain material." He flicked the razor open again and took another swipe of beard and shaving cream off his face, wiping it on his shave towel.

"My name's Leighton," he told the man. "And I may not be the captain, but if you have some kind of business, I might be able to point you to the right person?"

[Ari Deschain]

Ari had been in the cargo bay, on her back underneath a small transport. She cursed fluidly as she unscrewed a cap and engine grease dripped all over her left arm. "Gorrammit...That wasn't supposed ta happen..." she muttered to herself. She did not hear the knock, so intent was she on her work, but she did hear her name being called out. Taking a wrench from within one of her many pockets, she tightened the cap back on and wiped away some of the grease. Then she carefully rolled herself out on the little wheeled trolley she was laying on and sat up, looking around for Leighton. To her surprise, she saw him by the door with a couple of other people; one looked like Penny.

The mechanic came out behind Leighton, wiping her hands on a rag that she soon stuffed into her oil-stained overalls. "Aw, sugar. Don't you go gettin' mean on me. There's too much o' that on this ship ta go around." She squeezed his upper arm, a playful grin creasing her lips. "You ain't got a mean bone in your body. Did you call for me, Doc?" she asked. Her right eye studied the unknown man, her useless left eye hidden behind an eyepatch. It wasn't her usual eyepatch with the threaded heart insignia on it; this one was plain black that she used when working so as to keep oil and grit out of her blind eye. She lifted her chin in Mason's direction, glancing at Leighton. "Who's this guy?"

The way he stood, the charm displayed on his features...Ari flashed back to Ursula, the blond Companion that had been a resident on Ari and Leighton's old ship, the Atlas. Her jaw set and she looked back at Mason, brows wrinkling a bit. Damned if this man thought he was getting on her boat. A flash of good sense told her not to scare him off, and that he might be different from Ursula. She had to remember that as much as she hated Companions and everything they stood for, society saw them as respectable and they could definitely make a ship look good...especially when said ship's activities were not strictly legal. Ari bit her lip and held her tongue, stepping back and slightly behind Leighton.

[soraking13]

Mason looked about, it seemed that a crowd had grown around him. It must not have been often that someone with noticeable respectability stepped abroad the ship. He was probably the last person that anyone there expected to see walking onto their ship.

"Well, I don't travel as often as I would like." Mason jumped up a bit when he noticed the person was behind him. He smiled at the girl making a slight bow at the new comer.

Mason chuckled at what the Medic had said. "I'm sorry, Leighton, I didn't mean to offend you. My name is Mason and I would like to...," as Mason started to say this another person came into the room.

She looked as though she had just rolled around in engine grease. When she asked the question of who he was, Mason felt compelled to answer. "My name is Mason Greenly. I'm a companion, and I'm looking for a ride to a new rock. I am not looking for any place in particular, just some place a little more... respectable."

Mason looked about. Well, the ship was more beautiful with out all these strange people, but it would be something he would have to deal with until he got off. Besides he was fascinated with this ship. It certainly was a Beautiful Boat.

"So, who do I talk to about getting a ride?" Mason asked looking at the three others.

[phantomseige]

"Well..." Leighton started, trailing off. On the one hand, the captain was the final word on that, but with Ari here, it felt almost unnecessary to go to him for a simple Can we find this man a bunk.

Leighton turned around to Ari. "Ari? What do you think? Take it to the Captain, or just find him a-" He stopped rather suddenly when he finally read her body language. "-a, um, a bunk," he continued, somewhat conspicuously. "I mean, a companion onboard, that's... that's... helpful, isn't it?" Leighton felt as though he had suddenly put himself in an awkward place, managing to stop conspicuously enough to possibly make Mason feel awkward and to almost assuredly give away Ari's feelings.

"I screwed up, huh?" he silently mouthed to Ari, trying to apologize with his eyes.

[Ari Deschain]

The mechanic hung back slightly behind Leighton, her small stature and hunched posture making it easy for her to be unnoticeable. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets as Mason spoke. She worried her lip with her teeth as he addressed her. Companions had always made her angry, but there was no reason to go condemning this one...yet. Inclining her head in greeting, she tipped an imaginary hat in his direction and then pulled off her eyepatch, the elastic flipping her short crop of hair into her eyes. "Ari. Mechanic and owner of this ship. I guess I'm who ya'd talk to."

As Leighton looked at her apologetically, she shrugged him off with a soft grin. "No worries, luv." She stepped forward to stand beside him again. Her eyes appraised the man before her, then she glanced at Penny. "I expect the man'll be needin' his papers back if he's expectin' to pay us rent. I'll thank you not ta be stealin' things from crew, Penny." The mechanic had been a pickpocket in her day, but she had traded in that life for honest work as a mechanic. She didn't much like Rade's friend, or the way the woman worked. Of course she hadn't seen Penny steal anything from Mason, but the self-satisfied smirk on the younger woman's face told her everything she needed to know. She turned to Leighton, shrugging. "Captain's still settlin' in. He won't say no to a passenger, 'specially one who'll bring us some respect. I'd be gorram stupid to let my prejudices get in the way of some extra coin. Let's give him one of the bigger rooms for his...work." She tried not to let her distaste show in the word, then turned and walked back into the ship. "Welcome to the Lenore, Mason," she called over her shoulder.