Taking Care of Business

[shiptoride]

Characters: Gippal, OPEN
Content: Gippal's out working on the guns, checking for storm damage and generally tweaking them. Feel free to annoy.
Setting: Winding Way Main Guns
Time: Morning
Warnings: Depends on who shows up, Innuendo (lots of it)

Comments

[tiny_tinker_toy]

Man, was it chilly out here.

Having nothing else to do, Rikku had offered to run errands for the kitchen (less stuff for Watanuki to do). She was going around, giving warm drinks (and spare clothes from Sophie's pile of enchanted warm clothing) to anyone who was stuck outside for any amount of time. She had on her worn leather work clothes and a shawl-cloak thing.

She wandered over by the guns, seeing if anyone needed something, when she spotted Gippal working on the guns.

Guh.

One thing Rikku would never tell anyone on the ship was that she loved guys who worked with their hands and weren't afraid to get smudgy from the oil and grease. She especially loved them when they were Gippal.

"Hey, Gippal~!" she called out, heading over. "Cold?"

[shiptoride]

Gippal was just wiping some sweat off his head, and smearing a little more grease in the process, when he heard a voice. Nothing suited him better than getting dirty working on an improvement project. Except some company while he was doing it. Even though he loved to tease people, he actually enjoyed being social.

"Hey, it's Cid's girl!" he called out, grinning at the old taunt. He let out a grunt from the exertion of trying to nudge a piece of the gun back into place. "Not too much. Hadn't much noticed it." But now that she mentioned the cold, he was getting pretty nippy when he wasn't moving.

Gippal flicked his head in her direction. "Whatcha got there?"

[tiny_tinker_toy]

Rikku huffed. "I have a name, Gippal!" Really, this was getting old. Regardless, Rikku held up the bag of clothes and the bag of bottles. "Enchanted warm clothing and warm tea and other drinks in bottles kept warm by mana crystals," she explained. "Want any, Mr. Handyman?"

[shiptoride]

Good ole Rikku. She could always be counted on for the cute huffing. "A name? What was it? Mildred? Wait no, Fifi." Gippal made a show of really thinking hard about it. "Mmm. Cid's girl's not it. Gippal's girl?" He figured she'd either freak out on him or slap him. It was really the freaked out reaction he was looking for, but a man had to take a gamble for his fun sometimes.

"Sure, I'll take a drink. I'm not picky what."

[fatherofcute]

The storm had been rattling, at best. Not because he was unused to storms -- on the contrary, the past few years had taught him to ignore them when possible -- but because there was a distinct lack of able-bodied men on board that he could rely on to help him keep the ship safe. No, that wasn't accurate -- he could rely on most of the crew members, but because he was a traditional military man by nature, he tended to look for the men for tasks like running around the deck in the middle of storms.

He was being a traditional military man now, walking around the ship to tally the damages done. It would have been easier to let the others do it, but if one wanted to do something right...

The next item on the list was the gunroom. He had been worried that it would be struck by lightning and something would go off, but fortunately, the Winding Way had been lucky in that regard. Hughes peered in the room and...

"Oh, hey, Gippal. Didn't know you were here!" he grinned, smiling widely and waving at the guy, stepping into the room soon

[shiptoride]

One more turn and... done! Gippal gave the gun he was tweaking a little pat, then turned. "Hey, 'sup?" Ok, just one more turn. He bent back over the gun and explained, "Yeah, I wanted to make sure nothing got damaged in the storms. So far everything's in good shape."

There, now it was more to his satisfaction. He stood up and leaned against the wall. "How's everything goin'?"

[fatherofcute]

"I was just about to have a look-see about how the room fared during the storm, but looks like you've got things handled," he chuckled, looking around the room curiously and marking its important pieces of equipment in mind. How did the Winding Way fare in terms of defensive and offensive power?

"Nothing wrong with it or anything? Damages, wet equipment, anything to be replaced or fixed?"

[shiptoride]

"Nah, it's all in good shape. Good thing too, makes it easier to tweak the guns and make 'em better." Gippal nodded, looking pretty pleased with the condition everything was in. "There was one barrel of powder that got wet. Prolly needs to be replaced, but everything else is shipshape."

[daughterofchump]

Zeetha knew she would not be the only one inspecting the storm damage. But that didn't mean she didn't want to get a look at it herself. All the better for when she spoke with Hughes about it later, for she knew that sooner or later he would be making his rounds as well

[shiptoride]

Gippal stood up and wiped his hands off on an already grease smeared towel, before waving one in a half-salute. "Hey there," he greeted Zeetha with a big grin. "Yeah, everything's cool here. No damages at all. I think I got a way to increase the firing range on 'em though. Simple little tweak."

He gave the gun an affectionate pat (like you'd expect a guy to bestow on a girl's backside). "So, what brings you here? A little cold out for socializing." Obviously cold, since she was wearing furs. He would have made a crack about missing a costume party, but he didn't know her well enough to know how that'd go over. Yet.

[daughterofchump]

"Indeed," Zeetha said. "But after the storm I wanted a look. So you're improving things already?" She circled the gun to take a look.

"Good. I like initiative. We may be needing it by and by...we've been troubled by pirates before, and no doubt will be again." She didn't think Gippal would be too nervous about that. But...No sense beating around the bush.

"How well can you compensate for your lack of depth perception?" she asked, referring to his eye.

[shiptoride]

"Pirates, huh?" Gippal's mouth quirked up into a cocky sort of grin. The idea didn't spook him much at all. Not that anything really did after the disasters with the Squad. "Don't sweat it. Gimme a round or two with them and they won't be back for more."

Ahh, she was mentioning the eyepatch. Rikku'd been asking him about that. So had some of the other crew members in passing. Each person got a different story- it enhanced the mystery. Still, Zeetha had a good question. "Not a problem for me. Most marksmen shut one eye anyway to target. I haven't missed a shot since the day I put this on." A bit of a braggart, but it was true and he wasn't ashamed to boast.

[apple_eating]

Although flying was both her strong point and her passion, Eva DID have a soft spot for guns of all shapes and sizes.

Suffice to say, she found the arsenal of the Way rather impressive, for a theater ship. The woman moved between the guns in question, studying each one with an educated eye, suddenly recalling all of the lessons she took up in Charm School. If push came to shove, she could very easily fire any one of these at any given target, but given the nature of her assignment, it was best to pretend that she didn't know a thing.

[shiptoride]

He was just finishing up the next in his series of tweaks on the guns, when company arrived. Good looking company. He stood back and watched her move between the guns for a minute, just enjoying the view. He hastily wiped his hands off on a towel and headed in Eva's direction.

"Never had such a good lookin' visitor in here before." He moved just a hair closer, tilting his head to the side and flashing her one of his trademark charming smiles. "Can I get you somethin'?"

[apple_eating]

Well, this one didn't look so bad at all. He was pretty smooth too, for a man.

"Not a lot of girls like guns, I suppose." Eva smiled, and made sure to maintain eye contact as they talked. "And I think the first thing you could do for me is tell me your name. I'm new to the crew, and I'd like to be up to speed as fast as I can be."

[shiptoride]

Gippal was doing his best to maintain eye contact too, but man was this one fine. He had to sneak a glance or two just to appreciate the view, but he was trying for subtle in doing it. Still, he nodded at her request and quirked a grin. "Name's Gippal. I'm new to the crew myself. Came on during the races. Pleasure to meet you..." He trailed off hoping to catch her name next.

[fire_water_wood]

Once more, a certain little puppet was making his way around the ship, exploring new areas - he always found at least one on each trip. This time he was properly bundled for the cold, thanks to Miss Sophie.

This time, he came into a room with big...things... Long poles - or maybe tubes - of metal that jutted out through holes in the hull from masses of complicated-looking...machinery of some kind, he could only guess. Goodness, what in the world could they be?! Harlequin wracked his little wooden brain for anything and everything he knew about ships (which was, frankly speaking, next to nothing).

Guns? Is that what these were? 'Guns'? Wow... he thought and crept further into the room. He wandered among the huge constructions of metal and wood. He wanted badly to climb up on things here and there for a better look, but if he was right - if these were guns - he didn't know what made them shoot, and he didn't want to risk firing one by accident because he'd put weight (however slight that might be) on the wrong hand- or

[shiptoride]

Now if he could just get that piece to go in th--whoa! what was that?! Gippal felt something across the side of his ankle followed almost immediately by an ouch. He sat back and looked around, to see a rather surprising visitor sprawled on the ground. Man, did I trip him?

"Hey, don't sweat it. You alright?" After that, he figured he better find out why the guy was here. Maybe he was a new gunner he hadn't met yet.

BRB - LOLing at the idea of Quin as a gunner...

[fire_water_wood]

Harlequin nodded, straightening his clothing. "Yes, sir. I'm fine. You?" He felt silly now - how in the firmament had he managed to miss that someone else was here?! Enough to not miss tripping over them?!

He thought about the irony of that, actually. People had tripped over him aplenty, but this had to be first time it was the other way around.

[shiptoride]

It took a minute, but then Gippal realized that who, or what, he was looking at was anything but expected. Maybe I hit my head and don't remember. He might be up for outrageous teasing, but cracking on someone that looked like... a puppet went beyond what he was comfortable with.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, still looking mighty perplexed at his guest. "Can I get you somethin'?"