Retrieving The Wave Dancer - Part 3
--[ Hold ]---------------------------------------------------[ Shipboard ]----
And so, the Scooby Gang edges down the corridor which leads to many things, not the least of which is Maggie's own room, into which only the bravest of men may enter, muaha. Merrisol (obviously Fred), comes into the hall from the main deck, rubbernecking for a moment to count heads. "Groups? Everyone with a light, take a door." He glances at the open galley.. obviously someone had already taken that one. "I'll check in there."
Mordecai says, "Not alive, no. There's a half a dozen souls in there who look like they were poisoned."
Shao nods for Merrisol. "Hai," he confirms. "Nobody touch the poison room," he says. He points at the opposite direction, past Bashar and Fang, past the stairway to upward. "I try this door."
Merrisol glances sharply at Mordecai, lifting his lantern as he edges past some of them to poke his head through the doorway into the galley. "Are the spooks talkative?" he wonders distastefully. "Which Captain did they serve?" A bit reluctantly, he continues inside, hoping he's not treading over spirit feet on his way towards the nearest wall sconce.
Liya simply shrugs, as Merrisol takes the Galley. She gives Mordecai a long look and then says, "Ghosts, huh? That's somewhat - disturbing. Mind you, this whole place is making me feel twitchy." She steps away from the galley, really glad that Mayhem mostly has the 'don't eat things unless I approve it,' thing down. "Let's go try the next door then."
You paged Liyandra with 'You've chosen the First Mate's cabin. The dented bronze placard reads Mr. Weiss.'.
"Right." Fang says in respose to Shao's rundown of events and Merrisol's suggestion. A thoughtful tsk and she moves to grab another torch, lighting it from Shao's, "Perhaps a bit more ilumination -is- in order." Smiling her thanks, she holds the lit torch out for Merrisol to light his from, then turns to the door with a worn bronze placard. "I'll take this one."
Li-Fang's door leads to the Captain's quarters. Her placard bears a heraldic flame, naturally.
Liya finds herself facing a door with a placard reading "Mr. Weiss" On it. "Who was Weiss?" she calls out, not sure which room this is. Still, she reaches for the door, to open it and see what is inside. Mayhem mrowls, sounding curious.
Fang pushes the door gently at first, but with more force if it doesn't go crashing to her feet. As her stance changes subtly, the torch suddenly held slightly up and to the side, ready to give something a good firey thwapping if need be.
A glow starts and rises to prominence within the galley, spreading its yellow ambience out into the corridor and throwing some of the nicks into fuzzy relief. Merrisol reappears in the doorway. "I'd been certain rot would have eaten the wicks by now, but they're clean." Seeing the others splitting up for different doors, he watches tensely for a moment while they try the knobs, hand going to the hilt of his short sword.
Liya's hand finds the knob, and she sees if this door opens, or not. Mayhem roars, just to add to the tension building.
Shao reads aloud, "Bunks", from the plaque. He shrugs, opens the door. "Ooh. Bunks," and he goes in. There are sounds of banging and other softer stuff being riffled around. And a silence. And then, the complaints of a mismanaged accordion.
Mordecai says, "Not talkative at all. More echos. But like echos, you can tell the strength. And those in the galley are recent, and therefore our Captains, most like."
Captain Flame's door is a bit warped, but a good push scrapes it across the plank flooring into the large room, its darkness mitigated by a multi-framed rectangle of thick window seat glass, through which gleams lightning flashes. One broken pane lets in the chill and damp of spray. It's sparsely-appointed for a Captain, but at least there's a bed, a wardrobe, and a large writing desk, all bolted to the floor and good quality.
Mr. Weiss's door knob squeaks in answer to Mayhem's roar, but it's not locked, and the door starts to open, before clunking against something solid after a foot's width of doorway is revealed. Can Mayhem make the rut-roh sound?
Merrisol gazes at Mordecai dubiously. "How many of these poisoned spirits.. exactly? When you get a moment, do you have any way of testing the dry food stores and water.. I want to know what's bad in there and if it could have been an accident." As if anyone here will even touch the food on this ship after Mordecai's news.
Fang lowers her torch slightly, holding it out in front of her as she slips through the doorway. "Definetely going to have to fix that window." she calls, then moves on muttering "No rats, no rats, no rats..." like a mantra. She'll check the ground for any sign of debris or footprint as she edges toward the wardrobe.
Mordecai nods. "I'll look into that once we secure things."
"And there is a sense of danger in the galley, though I'm not sure if it's from Mordecai's ghosts or something else. it's strange," Liya calls. The squeak of the door gets a grin, and she rests a hand briefly on Mayhem's head. She pushes at the door, which then clunks into something solid. "There's something blocking this door," she calls, as she moves her light to see if she can peer into the room with the foot of opening she's got.
Shao reappears, with his torch and the dead wind instrument dangling to his side. "Bunks are a mess. Found this," he says, showing the hexagonal accordion. There's a hole through its lung, in a shape that suggest it has been ran through.
The ship hull shudders a rise in wind causes the vessel to turn, even in its limping state. Timbers overhead groan, and there's a loud but indistinctly placed crash.
Merrisol holds onto the broken doorframe and waits through the tilting until the floor goes more or less back to level. He sends Sir Bashar back up to the main deck to see what collapsed, and to remove any debris that lies over the cabins and bunk rooms. Don't need no cave-ins, no sir. Then he turns to Shao. "Music-inspired violence, Shao?"
Shao shrugs. "It was like this," he explains. He was to throw the mattock away but the general shudder has him look up and wait.
Mordecai says, "There're not my ghosts...."
Long distance to Liyandra: Merrisol woooos. If you're not holding on to the frame you might fall through the door gaaaap.
From afar, Liyandra laughs. and have the door close behind me? LOL!
You paged Liyandra with 'Good call, good call. Oh, and the lamp goes out.'.
Liya is fussing with the door, but she leans back, not holding on to call back about the door block. Thing is, Liya is petite, and a foot open? With a turning ship, shuddering and all, that's more than enough space for Liya to slip right through as she works to keep her balance. Sending her into Weiss' room. The door SLAMS shut behind her, leaving Mayhem on the outside. The cat promptly leaps at the door, trying to get through it to Liya. There's a strip of light at the bottom of the door, from the lamp that Liya is carrying for a split second, and then the lamp goes out.
The wardrobe, as Fang approaches it, looks to be of refined quality, well polished. Too bad the paneling has been punched through several times, the splintered holes looking quite round, as from a sledge hammer perhaps. One of the doors falls open, clinging by an iron hinge. Inside, strewn, torn jackets and blouses, ripped from their hangers, the hangers themselves tumbling warped out of the wardrobe at Fang's feet.
Merrisol sees it happening, but he can't even lunge across the corridor before Mr. Weiss' door SLAMS. He stumbles to one side as Mayhem launches at the door, roaring inquiries. "Liya!" That was Merri, not the cat, by the way.
You paged Liyandra with 'It's dark as pitch here. You might be eaten by a grue.'.
From afar, Liyandra laughs. Uh huh. we might be eating grue for dinner too. ;)
You paged Liyandra with 'Naw, the danger sense isn't tingling, even when a firm, lumpy thing rolls up against you in the dark.'.
From afar, Liyandra eyes. ewww?
You paged Liyandra with 'About the size and height of a cabin boy.'.
From afar, Liyandra dead?
You paged Liyandra with 'You feeling for a pulse?'.
It's certainly loud just outside that door. Inside, it's pitch dark, black as night with no stars and no moon. And no light. Liya's hands go to her waist, where her knives are, automatically. She's listening, straining her ears, trying to see in the darkness, wishing Quinlan was here with his lights and such. Her own breathing sounds loud in her ears, and she's about to turn to open the door so she can settle Mayhem down, when something firm and lumpy rolls up against her. Frankly, it makes her scream even if she's not sure what it is. One hand reaches blindly to try to find out what it is.
You paged Fang with 'There's nobody inside the wardrobe, no blood, but it looks like that sledgehammer or whatever crashed around in there quite a bit, breaking up the backing as well.'.
Nimble as she is, the tilt nearly sends Fang headfirst into the wardrobe. Catching herself on it's frame, she somehow manages to keep the torch away from the mess of clothing. A few dramatic and choice Penglai words cut the air.. then, "There are some -nasty- holes in this thing. Someone was not happy.." Pause. "What is wrong?" Kicking a blouse off her boot, Fang dashes to the the corridor, skidding to a halt. "Merrisol?"
Shao drops his accordion, paf-fwuuuuuh, and moves quickly to assist Merrisol. Probably the best thing to to right now is to distract Mayhem with a rice ball? Rice ball. Shao leaves it a foot or so away from the door. He turns from his crouching station to look at Fang. "Door closed. Liyandra is inside, with no light."
Mordecai heads that way as well. There may be some skidding. And the cutlass is loosened on the way.
You paged Liyandra with 'It's resilient enough to be a body, but bulgy enough to be a gas-bloated body. Your questing fingers find twine.. twine wrapped around the cotton torso, moving.. and then sink into a large rent in the cloth, becoming enveloped in soft, squishy.... wadded stuffing. You're freaking out at a bedroll.'.
Merrisol can't get over how quickly that jaguar kitten can claw strips of oak off that door. Go Mayhem go! "She fell in through the gap," he informs everyone helpfully. OR she was pulled inside. "Will you bloody open it up already?" he wonders ever so gently to Shao.
Sorry, Shao, Mayhem is not distracted by the rice ball. Cause hey! His person is in there! Mrowl! Roar! Slash! Oh wait, rice ball. You've got about 6 seconds before he wolfs that down.
Liya lets her fingers trace over whatever hit her. It's big enough, the right shape to be a cabin boy maybe? She's looking for a pulse, but can't see, so it's by feel. The one scream is it, as she doesn't think she's in danger, but she is wondering if she's found the first body - or person. Fingers slide over resilient material, feeling the bloating. She hesitates, and then keeps her fingers moving, stubbornly. A moment, and she finds twine, which brings her heart to her throat - that can't be good. She lets her fingers move over the twine, realizing it's wrapped around the torso. And as her fingers keep going, they find a hole. In the fabric. Knifed! Conclusion jumped to, and yet, Liya's fingers move forward still, testing, to find that they end up sinking into soft squishy stuffing. "Bedroll," she says, with some exasperation. And she turns back to open the door.
The bobbing ship turns in place again, groaning. Why...?
Shao takes a step back, assesses the distance between the corridor at his back and the door. Annnd... the door opens. Shao bows his head for Merriol. "Door is open." Shao looks up, startled by the new groaning.
Merrisol is with Shao.. and Mordecai.. and Fang.. in the doorway as Liya opens it up again. Looking her over in the pale yellow light of his lantern, Merri silently extends his arm and offers it to the woman as a replacement.
Lantern, not arm. She still has two perfectly good arms.
Fang frowns in confusion, her torch is tucked into a nearby sconce just as the ship turns again. With her back against the battered wall, dark eyes turn upward, searching the ceiling as if to see through it to the deck. "Is someone steering this thing? I thought we could not yet move?"
"Is it going in a circle?" Liya asks, thoughtfully. She first reaches to calm Mayhem, who rubs up against her happily. Then she takes Kefisol's offered lantern and turns back to the room to see what all is in there. With the light this time.
Merrisol has to pause over Liya's question. "It went... the other way this time." Probably the reason why he and the others didn't stumble through the same doorway into Liya this time around. He eyes the damage to the door done by Mayhem, then turns away quickly like he hadn't seen a thing. "Anything? You said something had holes? Mordecai, Shao.. the cargo hold, if you would."
To Fang, he asks: "Anything? You said something had holes?"
Fang sighs, "Under water is ever so much calmer." Rolling up her one long sleeve, the green-haired woman brushes a bit of grime from her one bare shoulder. "Anyway, yes. There are some terrible holes in the Captain's wardrobe. As if done by a..." she makes a vague hammering gesture. "Sledgehammer perhaps? It was made with force, the furniture is quite sturdy."
Mordecai says, "I think they went mad."
Mordecai says, "Yet there's still no blood. Or corpses."
Shao nods, "Hai, Captain," for Merrisol. The cargo hold must the last door left unopened, right? That one with the 'Hold' plaque, at the end of the corridor. Shao goes over there, slipping through the crowd, no touchings, to move the deadbolt and try the knob.
Now that she can see, Liya takes a good long look at the room that tried to terrify her. She moves to pick up the chair that blocked the door, uprighting it and setting it down. She finds the tumbling bedroll, with more than a slash in it. There are blankets tossed here and there. The furniture mostly okay, but loose and ransacked. "No bodies in here either. And no blood." She pauses, and then adds, "But it has been ransacked, the drawers are all topsyturvy. I wonder what they were looking for, if it was something specific? Or just random."
Fang glances sidelong at Moredecai, offering a solemn nod. "It seems mad, that is for certain." Reclaiming her torch, she says, "Be careful, if there is cargo left, it may not remain secured through another sharp turn." to Shao in passing. "I'm going back to check the Captain's desk." And she does. Go back to the cabin. Maybe the madmen liked to write.
Merrisol nods to Fang. "Please continue, then." He turns away to peer at Liya's room, then moves restlessly back to the galley.
You paged Fang with 'The cherrywood desk is barren, and has seven drawer faces, ornately carved and gilt-edged. Writing paper, implements, combs, brushes, all Captain's odds and ends and business papers... and the seventh drawer, low center, does not open. It could be one of those deceptive facades for decorative purposes, but then again.. the drawer seated above it doesn't slide out more than halfway before hitting a couple of wooden pegs.'.
You paged Liyandra with 'The idea that a dedicated search might have taken place kind of makes all the possible nooks and crannies start to stand out. All the possible places a thief could have missed.. the false panel in the bookcase? Holds a bottle of well-aged whiskey. The broken shaving mirror on the wall... in the backing there is a picture of dear old Mumsie.. Tucked in the roll of bedding, just a corner poking out after all the slashing ruckus, a bend and dog-eared journal.'.
Fang pages: Is there a catch on the inside of the sixth drawer? Something she could feel by sticking a hand in and feeling around? Or on the bottom of the desk anywhere?
Shao opens the door to the cargo hold. He moves his torch before him, past the doorway. The little water there is, down the short flight of stairs, sends warped reflections of light against the walls. He goes down.
Indeed, the hold doorway opens to a set of stairs that spirals downwards sharply. It's the alternate route into the cargo space of the hull. The actual loading takes place on the deck, through a large square-ish opening that is usually covered. On this ship, it's a treacherous shambles, hanging with loose rigging and broken boards.
You paged Fang with 'Yes, you can feel around inside and twist out the bar that keeps the wooden pegs in place. Then you can pull the drawer all the way out. There's a cavity revealed underneath that holds a black-cased logbook, and a red leather ledger.'.
Liya returns to the middle of the room, and starts to look around, her thoughts on the idea that someone was in here looking for something. If there was something, where might it be, that they missed. She starts to search, looking at the book case. With things as they are, she's still surprised that the hidden panel hasn't been ripped away. Blink. She nabs the bottle that was there, opening it and sniffing at it. "Oh, that's nice," she says, keeping hold of the well aged whiskey. Then she gllances around again, catching the broken shaving mirror. With something stuck in the backing that turns out to be a picture of dear old Mom. Or grandma. Well, some old broad anyway. She rescues the bed roll from mayhem who is trying to shake it to death, finding a journal poking out, bent, dogeared, and now nibbled on.
As Shao descends the staircase, it opens out into a sizeable room, wet-floored but still waterproofed. Some busted planks up in the ceiling let through diffuse spotlights which hint at the extent of intact crates, barrels, and casks still sitting down here, when they ought to have been delivered to a trade port by now. Some of the lights gleam off rather more peculiar sorts of large containers that are fallen and tumbled around the hold, unlashed by iron or rope.
Fang goes about opening each of the desk drawers, not doing more than glancing over papers and knick-knacks, she's not here to pry into the Captain's personals. All is normal until she gives the sixth drawer a pull, then a tug, and then an outright shake of the handle, but it doesn't open more than halfway and the seventh drawer? Not at all. "Huh. That's odd." Biting her lip in thought, Fang sits herself on the floor and slips a hand into the half-open drawer to see if anything is stuck. Fingers close on a hidden bar which allows the drawer to pull free, revealing what seems to be a ledger and a log book in the cavity below. "Merrisol? Is the Captain about? I think I've got something here for her."
Shao goes down the spiral staircase half-carelessly, trusting his Jadeite reflexes in case of mishap. Although the spiral looks mean, it is sturdy and Shao makes it down in the shallow water like a boss. What he sees there...
You paged Liyandra with 'It's a diary spanning several months. Figures a guy with a mommy complex would keep a record of his daily doings, along with occasional mopey poem. Mostly standard stuff, though in skimming one might begin to find a common thread. He did not enjoy serving under Captain Flame. Words and phrases such as: Ice Witch, cold as a selkie's kisser, critical, exacting, working the men to exhaustion, slave driver, etc. Though he doesn't go so far as to say she has been wrong or unfair about any given incident. Towards the end, Mr. Weiss's embittered writing begins to hint at a cunning plan. The last page written upon remarks on a certain cargo the Captain would have to deal with, that would end with her disgrace, and the Wave Dancer falling to his command.'.
You paged Shao with 'The strange containers are cages big enough to hold bears, but the bars are spaced rather closely to suit animals. Why, an adult human head wouldn't even fit through those bars.'.
Merrisol is away in the galley, righting stools as he kneels to examine some gouged markings on the floor. "Hum? Yes, Li-Fang? Captain Flame is in conference with the Duchess's Captain Catriona. What is it?" he grunts, sliding back carefully to avoid smacking his head on the table's edge. He dusts off his hands, although there is no dust to speak of, and approaches the corridor again.
There is the sound of creaking metal hinges and the cold clang of metal against a metalic structure, from under in the hold. A minute or so after, the spiral staircase is creaking, until Shao reappears jogging down the corridor, looking for... Merrisol, in the Galley. "Captain. Iron cages. I found this. There is names, Weiss and... look." He hands a torn piece of parchment to Merrisol.
Fang gathers up the books and blows a bit of dust from the covers. "Log book, and a ledger I think." Carrying her treasures out to the corridor, she holds them out to Merrisol as well. "Though I admit to being curious, it would not be my place to read them." A twitch of a smile plays at the corners of her lips, "Found them in her desk."
Long distance to Liyandra: Merrisol ohs and checks. Well apparently! A bunch of the writing is a language used in Manzanil. Most of what you can read, including poems, is in broken Thari, rife with spelling errors.
Liya pulls up the journal she's got, checking to see if it was Mr. Weiss' whoever he was. She moves to the desk, so she can set her lantern down and starts to read. And read. It's pretty boring material, about the day to day running of a ship, with Captain Flame starring. Liya frowns as she reads, skimming through. Some of it, she's got no idea what it says, as she can't read it, but she does get to read, "Oh how I miss my Mumsy, A wonderful Mumsie she is." And other poetry written in broken Thari. Among other things. It takes a bit of time to read, in fact, and some concentration. Then she pokes her head out. "If I'm reading this right," she says, "Ice Wench, cold as a silky kisser, working the men to excitation, critical, exacting, slave doorknocker. Mr. Weiss here did not like Captain Flame, and he says something about a special cargo that would somehow disgrace Captain Flame, so he'd end up in command of the Wave Dancer," she reports.
"Captains like that sort of thing, you know," Merrisol lifts his brows at the Fang, amused by her twitchy smile.. naughty red ledgers are naughty! "Logging and ledgering and signing things in blood. Sailing's not all fun and frolic..." His jesting dies off as Shao hurries back into the corridor. "Cages..? Livestock cages?" He takes the parchment from the agitated man, starts to look at it, then glances up sharply as Liyandra starts spouting... poetry? Awful poetry... but kind of nice. Mumsie. Sniff. Wait, is that.. whiskey you've got there, Liya? "Uhhh," he finally hedges, upon hearing the damning phrases.. but kind of nice. Silky kisser...
Now that's done, Liya uncorks the whiskey and takes a swig, then she offers the bottle. "Whiskey," she says simply. "And what about cages?"
There is a sound from above, though whether it is something knocking about due to the storm or not can't be ascertained.
Shao looks between people. He is searching for words but not for long. He mimics the size of one. "That tall, that large. With... bars? My head does not go through." He mimes holding bars, each side of his face, that are too close for a head to pass.
"Slave doorknocker?" Fang echoes, the phrase eliciting a chuckle, holding up a hand in response to the whiskey. "Thank you, perhaps later. I think I will go uptop and see what is keeping Bashar, he has been gone far too long. Hopefully he is not the one clattering across the deck."
Merrisol collects the logbook and ledger from Fang, nodding. "Check the wheel too, if you please." Maybe she'll find the ghost of the First Mate, merrily turning the ship to and fro while composing another poem. Ode to Betrayal.
Fang gives a quick salute, "Aye aye." and races up the steps.
Coming down the steps as Fang heads up, Maggie gives the woman a jaunty wave and a quick smile. Where is everyone? She pauses at the bottom of the stairs to take stock and dismay touches her gaze. A hand rises almost absently to touch a wall where there is evidence of gouging. The hand remains there and she turns from right to left to take stock. "Hello?"
Shao breaks out his kiseru pipe, from his sash, at his back. He feeds its bowl with a pinch of tobacco from a small leather purse and finds a light at the next torch or candle. As for answering Maggie, he lets Merrisol do it, with a grin.
Well if everyone is going to keep saying 'slave doorknocker', while Shao mimes his face being behind bars, then perhaps Merrisol here is keen enough to make the connection. "Special cargo to disgrace the Captain.." he considers. Bobble-head dolls? Those things are awful. He glances between them all. "Wait. People-sized cages?" his frown deepens... just as Maggie traipses down the stairs on the other end of the corridor. "Over here, Captain."
Privately, to Liyandra and Merrisol, Shao does not flinch at 'people-sized cages', nor ticks. Nothing.
Liya pauses as she spies Maggie, with a bit of a shrug. "Hey Captain." She gives Shao a look, and then she shives a bit. "Well, it seems there might have been some shenanigans." She brings the journal over and passes it to Merrisol. "You might want this. And the whiskey is good. If we find the guy and he's innocent, I'll buy him a new bottle."
The first time she's been down here in about a month and it looks like this. Maggie walks down the corridor slowly. Trailing a hand lightly over the wall, she looks into opened doors, but does not paus really. When she reaches the group, the expression in her eyes shifts between hopeful and really worried, "Hey, all." Liya is given a quick smile but it does not last. "The talk with Captain Catriona took longer than I thought. Any luck down here? Did... No sign of the crew, then?" The worry flares forward first.
Shao puffs out some smoke. He bows for Maggie, short and sharp, pipe in hand. "Not a drop of blood," he informs.
Merrisol appears to be in possession of three booklets of varying size and colour, though Maggie just might recognize the long black logbook and a red ledger into which is wedged a neat bundle of letter paper. The battered journal, probably not. "No.. no bodies, no blood or other fluids, but a lot of this kind of thing.. everywhere." He tips his head down to the doorway of the galley, beyond which lays the fallen door.
The.. new.. temporary.. First Mate glances at Liya swigging from the whiskey bottle... then sighs. At least one thing here has officially tested negative for poison.
LIya holds the bottle out, willing to share. It's not poisoned, honest. "Whiskey?" she offers, and then she says, "I should maybe take Mayhem up on the deck, and get him some fresh air." She makes a face, not exactly thrilled with what it seems they've found out. And perfectly willing to let Kerfisol break the story.
Reaching out, Merrisol snags the First Matesky from Liya's hand. Compensation for the duties thrust upon him.
After the bottle has changed hands, Shao bows for Liyandra. "Stay warm, Lady Liyandra," he wishes to her. He places new tobacco into his slender, one-hitter pipe and lights it again.
At Shao's bow, Maggie smiles and shakes her head, "Thanks, but you don't have to do that." The smile fades at his reply, "That's oddly specific." She steps to one side, then moves closer to Merrisol and Liyandra. Her gaze flickers to Liay and that whiskey bottle. A tension grows behind her eyes and they narrow a little. Tracking to the side from there, she nods to Merrisol's clarification, "Oh... Good on no bodies or... fluids." One hand lifts so she can scratch her eyebrow when the damage to the door is pointed out. She takes a step that way to give it a closer look when her gaze falls to the books he holds. Her head snaps back as though she was slapped by an unseen hand and she shudders. One hand starts to extend in that obnoxiously imperious manner and the other darts out to stop the motion. The question that has been plagueing her for the last few hours slips in a whisper to the fore. Liya's query is met with a soft, "No thanks. Maybe later. Luck with Mayhem." She nods to the books and letters, "Where did you find them?" Her tone is measured and low, touched with the pressure of impending memory.
Merrisol mistrustfully sniffs the mouth of the bottle and apparently decides he's not really in a whiskey state of mind. But now with both hands full, he can't shuffle all the paper products cradled in his other arm; they're all just kind of hanging out there. He looks at the slip of parchment that remains in his hand, scanning the document idly, but in his periphery he spots Maggie's odd twitchy behavior. "Captain?" he prompts, looking at her directly, and his gaze drops to her hand, then comes back up, studiously. "I didn't, Ms. Li-Fang said these ones were in your desk. Miss Liyandra discovered the other in Mr. Weiss's room.. his private journal. She read it though. Accidentally."
Maggie says, "I'm sorry. I..." She closes her eyes and turns her head to one side and slighly down. "I don't..." Her hand tentatively releases the other. Freed, the other moves forward to collect the documents. Both work together now to flip the ledger and logbook to the back leaving the Mate's journal and letters. After a moment's hesitation she moves the Mate's journal back behind the others, the movement rather slow and prolonged. That leaves the letters, "Can't blame her for her curiosity. And Mr. Weiss is not here, clearly." The name. Was it on the outside of the journal? Maybe the plaque on the door. "What... Did she say what was in it?" Turning the letters so that they are square, she almost drops one that is not in the packet. That is the one she chooses to open first.
Shao puffs out smoke again. He points downward with his kiseru. "I found cages, in the cargo hold. Cages for humans," he informs. His pipe moves up, to point at Maggie's Seditious Hand. "We have to fix that, Captain Flame. Very bad." He clicks his tongue, shaking no... no...