Breaktime (Evening)

Serena left the galley in a hurry, finding the crew chief skulking towards the supply room, likely, she figured to have a smoke. It was difficult with everyone sharing the cargo bay, and he tried to be considerate about it by finding alternate places to light up.

“Sorry, Crew Chief,” she apologized. “I only took but a minute or two to have tea with a passenger, he asked, I swear.”

“You’re allowed to have a tea break. Nuthing to ‘polagize for.” Vas said as he fished out a black cigarette as he drew closer to the storage closet.

“Oh… okay, I thought… you know. You were actin’ weird, so I figured you were mad about it,” she replied. Truth was, he had been acting less and less like himself. “You been funny since we took off. I mean, I know all the passengers and stuff can be overwhelming, mostly I found a way to make it just the right amount of whelming. Wanna know how?”

“I’m not acting weird.” Vas grumbled lighting up. After taking a drag and feeling less like an overcoil spring. “Sure … regale me.” He said breathing out a plume of spicy smoke.

“*Regale….*” Banked. “I don’t ask people if they need nothing, I figure if they do, they’ll ask me. If I say “can I get you something?” Most of them say yes, and then I gotta spend a lotta time going back and forth. So if I don’t ask, and someone says “Can you get me a drink?” I tell ‘em there’s plenty of drinks in the galley, which they can find super easy,” she replied. “So far? It’s been working great.”

“That’s why you handle the passenger.” Vas chuckled a bit. “Way more tolerant than me that’s for sure.” There was no doubt he was at the very least being a bit melancholy.

“No one likes their luggage thrown [i]at[i] them,” Serena giggled But she could tell the Crew Chief wasn’t in the mood to giggle, he wasn’t himself at all. “Somethin’ eatin’ at you?” She asked after a long pause.

“Hm? Naw I don’t think so …” Vas blinked. Though he wasn’t sure why Serena would be asking about parasites. “... Why?”

“On account of it seems like something’s bothering you. Are you sad we left New Kasmir?”

“What? No. Just a lot of crazy in a short time.” Vas said waving it off. “You know … Gill, Haddie …” Vas tried not to scrunch his nose. “ … Plus a metric ton of passengers. All add up I guess.”

“If you say so. You want some company? My crew chief says it’s okay if I take a break. I can make you a cup of tea, maybe I can even ask Esteban if I can have a bit more of his for you. It was the best thing I ever tasted, ever.” She gushed.

Serena might as well have splash him with ice water. “No I’m good.” He said turning down the offer of tea a little too quickly. ”But you can stay keep me company if you want.” Vas added taking another long drag.

“Sure!” She said, climbing up on one of the boxes and folding her legs under her. She studied him for a moment, his posture was all different for some reason, but she didn’t want to press the issue. “We left during the day.” She mused, changing the subject for him. “So we didn’t get to see if the ship passed through all the pretty colors me an’ you saw that first night.”

“Tons of places with those lights … You never know where we’ll land and see ‘em next.” Vas said with a shrug. “I was a place one where the bay and mountain where just right and ever night like clockwork a storm of lighting would come and you could see lightning strike after lightning strike one right after the other over the water.”

“Oh, I hope we get to see that!” Serena said, crossing the fingers of both hands. “Was that with your last ship? I mean, the one before the Veil, not… the one that was my ship too.”

Vas chuckled. “No … I uh … well … I mean I worked on the Clover before The Veil but only for a short spell. I traveled … for work ... a lot but not as a spacer working on a ship like here.” He explained.

“Oh. I thought you were a life long spacer, like me. What’d you used to work as?”

Vas shifted uncomfortably. “I … ain’t exactly proud of that time.”

“Like… me with the Skyhook?” She whispered.

“Sorta. Different.” Vas said hemming and hawing. “Maybe I’ll go into detail later.” He promised. “Just a lot going on right now.”

“It’s okay. I’ll listen if you wanna talk.” She promised. “And I’ll just keep you company if you don’t.”

“Not really. Not right now.” Vas shugged. “So … you guys finished up bunks in the cargo bay?”

“Yeah… “Serena said, her mood dropping to match his. “But that’s somethin’ I don’t wanna so much talk about.” She quickly switched the subject. “I did have a good time helping Yaz unpack though. Did you know that all her kimonos mean somethin’ different? They’re each for a different occasion.”

“Oh believe it … I hear she has dress collection as well … and tons and tons of hair bobbles, rings, earrings, necklaces and such. Not to mention the makeup and perfume. Thats probably a fraction of her entire …” Vas made a vague hand motion. “... stuff.”

Serena snickered. “I can’t imagine traveling with that much. But she’s nice, really nice. I weren’t a pest to her neither. The only passengers I didn’t help get settled was that… Mr. Bolak, on account of he brought his own deckhand, and Leo, of course. I don’t go nowhere’s near his room.”

“Well … she’s a companion. The life she leads I figure needs the kinda stuff for work.” Vas noted. “We can do Leo’s together then. That way I can space him if he looks at ya funny.” He snickered.

Serena regretted bringing him up, but it did seem to put the punk in a better mood. “He wouldn’t dare think of it if you were there.” She giggled.

“Damn right.” Vas said with a too wicked smile. “That man doesn’t get a second chance to terrorize \*MY\* crew.”

“Crew takes care of their own.” Serena added.

“No truer words were spoken.” The punk agreed smashing what little remained of his smoke before tossing it into the trash. “Alright breaks over. I figure if we get ahead of some of them chores now … tomorrow will be a bit easier. How about we prep tomorrow’s turnover? Get it all ready and sorted?”

“Sure thing, crew chief,” she agreed, happy to see him broken free of whatever had a hold on him earlier. “We can start with…” The crew chief’s com went off telling him to report to the bridge. Serena gave him a worried look.

“Guess… I’ll prep tomorrow’s turnover myself?”

“I’ll meet you in the laundry room after.” Vas said getting up and heading to the bridge.