Where a Duck Gains Grace [OPEN]

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Characters:  Gumshoe + Anyone
Content:  The one place where all his clumbsiness and thickheadness falls away and a glimpse of the man under the coat
Setting: The Wheel deck of the Victoria II
Time: Just before shove off from Bellicus
Warnings: May cause dizziness and/or fatigue

Dick Gumshoe breathed deep as he once more came topside, his grin ever

Comments

[dahliahasthorns]

And then there was "Melissa." Dahlia made her way onto the deck in order to calm her mind from what happened a while ago. She managed to clean the blood off her dress, mend the tear, and get those stains off her parasol, but her mood was still anything but happy (not that she ever really was). Fresh air would do her good, and she didn't get air-sick like some failures she knew.

She wasn't alone, it seemed. She stared at the man from where she stood, examining. He must have been new. That, or she wasn't as perceptive as she thought she was (understandable, as she didn't give two shits about the crew here.) It would still be bright to keep up appearances, though, in case someone else started questioning about her.

"Hello!" Dahlia waved, making her way towards him. "Are you are our new navigator? ...What a cute dog!"

[owe_ya_one_pal]

It was a nice, old wheel, and for that Gumshoe was glad. It ment that it was big, heavy, and sturdy....nothing like the tiny little things that were starting to pop up on the newer boats. He hated those things. But this...this was nice. A little stiff, though

[dahliahasthorns]

"O-oh... I'm sorry. My name is Melissa Foster; I'm one of the cooks." She made to put her hand out to shake his, but the sight of Cannon staring at her like that made her withdraw it and take a step back.

Stupid dog... "He does not... bite, does he?"

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Gumshoe blinked down at his gaurded dog, shaking his head as he lightly tapped his flank with his tattered boot toe. Cannon didn't take his eyes off the woman who smelled like blood, but he did lay down and stop snarling.

Shaking his head, Dick rubbed the back of his neck with one large hand, offering an apologetic grin. "No, he doesn't....Your a cook, right? Maybe he smells the food. We havn't exactly had our rations for the day, so he may be a bit on the hungry side."

[the_katals]

"Wow...nice dog." The mechanic said as he walked onto the wheel deck, giving the two a friendly smile before glancing down at his clip notes again. He was on duty right now and inspecting every corridor of the Victoria before they where to sail toward Kropmork and Nahk for the supposed peace conference being held there.

"So..." Kiros glanced over at the lovely red-head and the semi-brutish man with a friendly smirk. "When is the wedding? You two look absolutely adorable together!" He winked at them a bit before jolting down a few more notes about the wheel deck.

That ladies and gentleman was a grade A Kiros' joke!

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Saved by the mechanic! Nodding once more to the lady, Gumshoe lightly patted his post. "So, you got that wrench and grease?" He'd be more then willing to help the man tend to the wheel, after all, one wou couldn't tend to thier posts often couldn't handle them in emergancies. He'd started to kneel again to point out what needed to be done when Kiros spoke again....and he stood up so fast he slammed his head into one of the spokes hard enough to see colors.

"Ack!!"

[the_katals]

"Yeah, yeah...I have the wrench and grea-" Kiros nearly jumped out of his skin when heard the loud clank! He was just in the middle of finishing his report when Gumshoe's took a nasty impact against one of metal spokes. Glancing over his shoulder at the new lieutenant again, the mechanic let out a faint sigh and shook his head.
"You know, you should treat that better..." He chuckled faintly as he walked over towards Gumshoe and the lovely girl.

"Ah, but first...you didn't introduce me to your little girlfriend!" Oh yes, he planned on driving this joke of his to the grave of unfortunately. "I'm Kiros Seagill, miss. The mechanic of this ship, you wouldn't happen to be a passenger by any chance...?" He didn't quite remember who the girl was but he was sure he seen her face before.

[dahliahasthorns]

Dahlia decided it would be best to ignore that "wedding" comment, but she did do her usual "cast head downwards and blush" trick. She then remained silent, hoping the stranger and his terrible sense of humor would avoid her so she wouldn't have to forcefully make him air-sick.

No such luck. Ah well. She couldn't hate herself for being beautiful, could she?

So she smiled at the stranger and blushed more. "Oh, I-I'm not. We just met-" Sigh. "I'm Melissa Foster: the new chef. It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Seagill, but I actually think you've already introduced yourself before. But meeting in person is so much better!"

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Oh, his head hurt....Rubbing the spot, he couldn't keep the blush off his face as Melissa explained that they weren't even dating, let alone married, glad for once to let someone else talk for him. He wasn't entirely certain he trusted himself in a situation like this. It wasn't that she wasn't cute....but he just wasn't interested.

Shrugging off the jacket, he checked for signs of blood before he rolled up the white sleeves of his uniform shirt. There...that was better. Not nearly so hot, and besides, he wasn't technicaly on duty just yet. Glowering playfully at Kiros, he held out one large hand.

"Just give me the tools..."

[the_katals]

"Oh yes! That's right, we did meet before." Kiros smiled at the adorable red-head again, remembering their faint conversation through the journal. "I hope your stay here so far has been a pleasant one, missy!" He didn't know much about Melissa but she seemed like the usual ordinary beauty. A yet another shy and polite young woman who could easily become the fancy of the entire crew because of her demure nature.

Too bad for her that a certain tall and shapely viera seemed to already capture such a title as of late.

"Alright, alright!" Kiros rolled his eyes in jest as he handed over the wrench and grease toward the lieutenant. "Though, I hope you don't pull muscle trying to make the steer looser..." He smirked a bit as he regarded Gumshoe, his eyes wandering over him a bit.

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Apparently, the two knew eachother...however distantly. Good! Let Kiros use that magic charm of his to placate the lady...Gumshoe was just happy to finally get his requested tools. Easily able to hold both in one hand, he quietly rubbed the back of his neck before clearing his throat.

"I hate to be rude, but if you will excuse me, Ma'am...." He sounded sheepish, as if he honestly didn't want to be so rude as to duck out from the conversation, but the wheel really did need to be tended to, and he went on shift in an hour...

Lowering himself down, he wiggled in under the wheel itself, placing the tools in easy reach before fiddling with the casing itself. He needed to get at those gears....

[the_katals]

Glancing over at Gumshoe for a moment, the mechanic couldn't help but feel a sense of dread now that he handed the seemingly gentle giant the tools. He watched him for a few seconds, just wondering when the helmsmen was going to screw up. "I really hope you know what you are doing..." Kiros said worriedly, the last thing he needed was for the steer to break and for the Captain to find out about it! It is bad enough that Captain von Karma is in a bad enough mood as it is because of this peace treaty nonsense, so imagine how horrid the man would be if something happened to the Victoria now?

"Hey." Kiros watched him with scrutiny, a bit of a smirk forming on his lips again. "You think you can easily do my job, don't you?" He asked, more or less teasing Gumshoe now. "You know...there is more tools in a tool box than just grease and a wrench."

[owe_ya_one_pal]

The casing popped off, it's well oiled hinges swinging wide to expose the workings underneith. Gumshoe paused here, laying back for several moments just to oriantate himself with the new mechanics. Every ship was different....but everything was the same aswell, and it wasn't long before he was reaching sure fingers in to test gears and belts.

It wasn't so much that he thought he could be a machinic, as it was the fact that he'd spent the majority of his life learning everything he could about his post. About what could keep him in a job. If you couldn't work your post-inside and out- you didn't deserve it.

"Nah, pal...I couldn't do anything but this...and all this needs is a wrench and some grease. Hey, could you pass me the wrench and then turn the wheel 3 notches to the right?" One large hand popped out from under the wheel, waiting for the requested tool.

[the_katals]

"Good, because it's not easy as you think!" Kiros joked as he snatched up the wrench to give it to the lieutenant. He hesitated for a moment as he compared the other man's rather large hands to his own. "Geez..." He laughed slightly as gave Gumeshoe the wrench, noting faintly how the others hand dwarfed his own a bit.

"Where are you from, sir?" Kiros asked as he started to fiddle with the wheel. Damn! The wheel was rather stiff, just enough to be a annoyance for anyone who had to steer this iron bird. "You probably another city kid, aren't you?" The mechanic said just as he turned the wheel three notches right, keeping his eyes on Gumshoe who was still messing around with the gears.

[owe_ya_one_pal]

Feeling the tool hit his fingers, Dick quickly brought it back in under the wheel with him, smiling to himself as he brought it up to the gear that he'd found lacking. Company was nice...even if it was smartassed. Waiting for the wheel to be clicked over, he dove into work so that Kiros didn't have to hold the damned thing over for forever.

"Umm..yeah, actually. City boy *grunt* born and- Ah! There we go...City boy, born and raised. What about yourself? Tell me as soon as you get some slack, alright pal?"