Considering the stunts he just pulled and the distance he ran, Aubrey was only slightly winded. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made him feel twitchy when he came to a stop at the docks. When he did, the world seemed to be moving in slow motion. Winston was right behind him, wasting no time as he brushed past the boy and onto the ship. Aubrey turned to look over his shoulder from where he had just come, and Sakuya came flying past him like her rear end was on fire. A moment later, he flinched when he heard the shot of a cannon. Well, Rin must be on her way as well.

His limbs still itched to run, instincts telling him that they needed to be away from this city, and fast. He looked back over at the Leviathan and took a brief moment to appreciate how fast the mechanics had managed to patch it up. Then he thought of Jax, and he looked around quickly, realizing he hadn't seen her. But he spotted her, and she seemed to be admiring a pair of gloves. “Jax!” He called out, waving his hand over his head, “Are you okay? C'mon, we gotta get going!”

---

“Good, because we're fresh out of bail money.” Dexter said, not quite joking, but almost. “Thank you for keeping them at least relatively safe, Winter.” His eyes flicked over to Taran when he appeared, and he nodded his head slightly in acknowledgment. Sakuya entered next, running into Winter and falling back. Dexter did not miss a beat. “Perfect. Sakuya, take Taran and go prepare our cannons. I don't think Ballard has an active military fleet, but be on alert in case we are pursued. Winter, I need you to make sure everyone is on board in the next three minutes. If they're late, we leave them behind; we're on a tight schedule and cannot afford to take any more damage that will slow us down. Also, have Jax check the ventilation system in the engine room. Something isn't right and it's reducing our engine's efficiency. She may have to recruit the runt to fit into some of the smaller vents.”

Dexter brushed past them, heading down the hall towards the bridge. “Three minutes starts now.”

[PRINCE & KAI]

"So, how mad do you think Winter and the Captain are going to be?" Kai asked, looking down at Prince, as he was currently on Prince's shoulders.

Prince grinned, keeping a tight grip on Kai's shoulders so he doesn't fall off. "Probably not too mad," He paused. "If we ended up in jail he'll probably be mad, but we didn't." Prince chuckled, "I don't know about Winter though, that girl doesn't have a fun bone in her body." Kai sighed, shaking his head.

"I think you cause enough trouble for the group. You easily cause enough trouble more than the whole crew combined." Kai scolded.

"Pfft, I take that as a compliment, mind you," Prince said, a hint of slyness in his voice. "I'm just keeping them on their toes."

"Yeah. that's what you always say," Kai sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll get to join the fun soon," Prince said, adjusting Kai's weight on his shoulders.

"Yeah, if you stopped being so overprotective," Kai said, a light laugh escaping his lips.

"Let me warn you now, young one," Prince said, clearing his throat. "You could be forty and I would still be just as overprotective." When they reached the Leviathan, they greeted the other members, Prince not letting Kai down from his shoulders. "Good job for making it out alive, everybody," Prince said, grinning from ear to ear.

| Levi

" Grim...our fade our fight...shall we break to the doors of hell? " A soft voice could be heard, echoing within her soul...time is now consuming the world, a dust like particle consumes the world...it simply is now darkness...only she, the light of the world. The light surrounding her begins to expand...time reversing itself as the scenes seemingly fly by and then...it's all over. Her eyes flash open as she only see's her custom light hanging above her. It's stiff and tight so it doesn't move...it changes settings when it attempts to adapt to the outside. She could hear the sound of footsteps quickly entering the ship, the loud thuds and the sound of muffled voices...Kai, Prince, Winter, and the Captain? Exhaling deeply, sitting up seeing the white-painted door in front of her. Silence...she slid off the bed looking around the room as multiple books were stacked high, almost touching the ceiling...and barely any books cluttered the floor. Her head turns to the end of the bed, the scythe leaning against the edge, it's blade refracting the light instead of bending it, ' Odd...' the gem seems to pulse but...it was simply the light, ' More odd... '

Shrugging, she bent down taking off her shoes as it slightly pressured her feet. The halls were clean thanks to constant cleaning by her and as well a few others and clean enough that it wasn't able to stain white socks. She looked at the scythe once more, its refracting blade bending the image of her face...she frowns nearing the door as she exits. A mixed feeling of hot and cold rushes in as she exits the noise of the muffled voices begins to become more refined...and clear. Her hands rose to shuffle the braids and the multiple short tails that were created around the bun, her long and elongated hair was odd, odd for someone her age...most adults viewed her as a rebel, a simple disgrace...but she didn't mind, she soon was going to kill them.

The halls were cold now...the sound of blabbering voices continued constantly...the one that was most outstanding was the Captains, his awfully deep voice didn't match his...looks, but if Krain were here...he'd be the most outstanding out of the group. She sighed, standing in the middle of the hall and doing nothing...she decided to walk towards the commotion, realizing that she forgot to bring her talk-pad and pencil. She turns quickly running into her room, shuffling in the satchel as she grabs two pencils and the talk-pad. She runs down the hall and into the group, she stood beside Winter looking down as she wrote in her talk-pad.



She frowns showing the talk-pad to the captain and Winter...slightly scared that her food was going to be poisoned...like last time.

Winter

She heard Taran's footsteps and felt him stop behind her. Sandwiched between the two of them, Winter felt her skin prickle at the proximity, but knew they weren't threats. The girl barreling her way in Winter's direction, though… Sakuya managed to skid to a stop right before she rammed into Winter, stumbling backwards onto the ground. The moment the younger girl registered who it was that she'd almost collided with, her face paled. Oh yes, Winter hadn't forgotten about those other gunshots she'd heard in Ballard earlier. Keeping her face pointed at the captain, Winter slanted her eyes downward and to the side to look at Sakuya, who was trying to scoot away out of fear. Winter raised an eyebrow and moved her foot to stomp down on the edge of Sakuya's dress as though to say, Where do you think you're going?

The captain's voice drew her attention back to him. Winter gave a short nod to say she understood and turned to find Levi had made her way over. At least Winter now knew for certain where the girl was. She had to try very very hard to not roll her eyes when Levi revealed she'd been a smartass. She had other things to worry about right now.

Winter turned down the hall and hurried to the ship's entrance, passing Kai and Prince on the way. That was two more accounted for, then. She saw Aubrey and Jax down at the dock, Aubrey trying to get the young mechanic's attention. What on earth was she still doing down there?

"Hey!" she called down to them. "Hands on deck! Jax, Captain says ventilation system in the engine room has priority. Aubrey, go with her." An explosion in the city caught her attention and Winter looked up to see what looked to be a girl in a dark trench coat flying through the air. Rin was on her way, then. That left everyone except…

Angelo.

"Anyone seen Angelo?" she asked them. He was running low on time – only another two and a half minutes before the Leviathan left Ballard behind.

The youngster stared at Winter in awe. These gloves were for her? Quickly she slipped them on after Winter had hurried past her onto the Leviathan. They were fine leather but a little big, no, they were perfect. She loved them exactly the way they were, now her hands would never get covered in grease or oil ever again. Jax's face was a bit flushed red in embarrassment. Winter was definitely the mom she never had. Although her mother was caring and such, Winter was caring and stern when she needed to be and even a bit loving in some ways. Sometimes Jax could barely handle how amazing it felt to have someone like that in her life. While she was busy standing there, admiring her gloves and being lost in thought, the sound of footsteps came closer.

"Jax!" A familiar voice called her name and helped her snap out of it. Quickly she remembered where she was and the situation she was in. It was Aubrey who was waving his hands at her. Her cheeks returned to their normal color and she stared at Aubrey. "O-oh, hey Aubrey!" She placed her hand on the back of her head and smiled at him. "Sorry I was lost in thought, I'm okay" She said. When she spoke once more, Winter called down to them, giving them their orders from the captain. "Oh shoot! Let's get going" Jax moved behind Aubrey and started urging him towards the Leviathan. "Silly me I forgot we were in a bit of a mess" After a second of gentle pushing, Jax ran past Aubrey onto the ship and toward the engine rooms.

"Good thing I've always got tools on me" Scooting past the engineer currently working down there she excused him. "I've been given orders, allow me to take over, mister" Jax knew his name but was in a hurry to get things done so she didn't care what she called him. The engineer was relieved to be given a break and left to return to his quarters.

The pirate smirked to herself when she heard the explosion from outside, Rin. Some people got to have all the fun. She moved to some piping and an actual vent shaft in the hot and sweaty engine room that never seemed to cool down, even when the ship wasn't in motion, even when it was freezing outside. Already Jax was beginning to sweat but she loved it, the heat of the moment, the crew needed her help. Once her companion had entered the room she smiled at him. "Aubrey I need you stand here in front of this big pipe and turn the handle right while I climb into this shaft, "I may not be able to fit but it's worth a try" While she was talking she had already gotten to work removing the shaft with one of the tools from her belt.

Aubrey allowed himself to be shooed into the ship. He shot one final look over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of a flying Rin before he was sheep-herded inside. He was concerned that Angelo wasn't back yet. He hoped he was okay. He followed Jax, who moved quickly through the ship and to the engine room. As soon as he was through the door, the heat hit him like a wall. The air felt think, and the intense heat almost made it hard to breath.

He pulled off his hat and stuffed it in his pocket as he crossed the room to where Jax stood. He listened to her instructions and placed one hand on the pipe's handle as he watched her disassemble the pipe's shaft. Her hands moved quickly, the motion looking like it was well practiced. She was always so happy when she was working on something like that, and Aubrey felt the corners of his mouth tug up in a smile as he watched her.

”I might not fit, but it's worth a try.” She said. Aubrey pouted and adverted his eyes, not believing what he was about to suggest. Him, of all people, was going to point out the thing that annoyed him most. “If you don't fit, I'm sure I will.” He grumbled, careful not to meet her eyes so she couldn't see his embarrassment.

Angelo was tired but soon he saw the time and realized that he only had a few minutes to get back to the ship and knowing the captain he wont wait any longer then that. Angelo quickly put on his gauntlets (as sharp as ever) and started running and he realized he was being chased by more of the idiots from the bar but with more of them coming after Angelo this time why don't you idiots take the hint! Angelo yelled as he ran through the market and started to slash the stalls making them collapse and cause a giant mess behind him. Although it slowed them down it didn't stop them so Angelo had to move faster to the ship and soon he saw a refinery nearby and decided to go through it letting the smog cover his tracks as Angelo jumped and quickly got onto the roof tops of the buildings as he ran towards the ship.

Soon Angelo finally found himself at the docks with time to spare and quickly got on board and went up to the crows nest to keep watch as he usually did and he grabbed his musket just in case something caught his eye and he needed to take it down quickly...

"I can take myself Captain!" called Taran, taking off in a direction, before pausing, striking a thinking pose and finally fast walking the the opposite direction. When he reached the arms room he yanked out a set of direction, a cheat sheet for setting up the cannons. a skill that was deemed unnecessary until fairly recently. He started loading cannons, yanking things, twisting other thing, pushing buttons, and occasionally kick a difficult piece of equipment into submission. "Everything all ready on your end Sakuya?" He called, not taking his eyes off the turning thing he was turning.



Kara decided that it was worth the risk of slipping out of her hiding space to grab a piece of rope. She then scurried back into her hiding spot. If this idiots got this ship captured, and her, she was going to say they had kidnapped her. After all, they would only help her case. Who in their right mind would believe any variation of "I didn't know she was there" or "Hey, who put her there," no matter how truthful the statement was.

Sakuya immediately ran towards the cannon, half as an excuse to run away from Winter. Running towards the cannons, she first inspected the barrel, before muttering to herself, "Rin knows how to maintain these better than me, but I think they're alright for now." Quickly following Taran's example, she started loading the cannons, although she was forced to move slowly due to the weight of the cannonballs.

Meanwhile Rin was just about reached the dock. However, instead of running up the dock to get onboard the ship, she used the empty handcannon to pole vault, hitting the deck with a roll. Quickly standing up, she walked towards the cabin, before peering around the corner. So far, coast was clear. Walking down the hallway, she kept carefully peering around corners and doors, until she finally found the one she was supposed to avoid. Winter.

The moment she set eyes on her, Rin turned around, and immediately sprinted in the opposite direction.

"P-please! I'll give you money! Spare me!" insistent begging could be heard in an alleyway, as one could see one of the men from the bar cowering on the ground, covered in bruises and scratches. To his rear was a wall, and too his front was a casually dressed figure, seemingly almost a local. However, he was definitely no ordinary person, evident by the trail of bodies of the man's companions.

"So, you couldn't even stop a bunch of pirates, even with superior numbers..." The standing one said, his voice containing nothing but coldness, his eyes nothing but a glacier. Worn on his hands were two customized knuckle dusters. Raising on of them, he slammed he fist into the face of the cowering man, crushing his head against the wall behind.

Standing up straight again, blood coating his fist and dripping down his arm, Shiyami didn't even flinch, as he heard another voice behind him. "Even if he did fail, that was a little brutal, don't you think?" Shiyami turned around with a sigh, shaking his hand off most of the blood. "He was useless, and a detriment to our contract." With such cold and empty words, he started to walk back towards the street, his 'observer' waiting at the exit.

"Such brutal methods, befitting of the name Reaper. Or perhaps that other name is more fitting? Isn't that right, Immortal Vam-" Thought the other man was somewhat casually speaking, he immediately stopped talking as a fist slammed into the wall two inches from his head. "I don't care if you're an observer for the government sent to supervise me. Mention that name again, and you'll be meeting him on the other side." Words almost growled at him, the observer just stood their in silence, before Shiyami pulled back his fist and continued to walk away, hands stuffed in pockets, hiding the brutal weapons from plain sight.

"Such volatility." Muttering these words, his observer followed after his mark.

"Thanks Aubrey" She smiled sweetly at him and stood up to move and place her hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eyes. "Look, I know how you feel about your size, its just like how I feel about my stupid woman boobs and hips. I hate them. But it's nothing to be embarrassed about, okay?" With that she smiled once more walked in front of the vent, getting on her hands and knees to squeeze in. "I'm still going to try this though so you may or may not have too." Deep inhale and exhale, time for another adventure. Jax removed her hat and fanned herself with it, revealing the strap to her eye piece and her messy brown hair. A sheen of sweat was visible on her face, no time for that though. "Make sure you turn the valve right to tighten it and close the shaft for a short while." She knew she wouldn't fit but it was in fact worth a try.

Slowly Jax crept forward into the vent, it was even hotter inside and almost unbearable. However Jax had a job to do and the captain wouldn't' wait on her, no way no how. Once she reached halfway, she couldn't make it any farther. "Curse these woman hips, Aubrey I can't make it! I'm going to need you to" She crawled out backwards and stood up, shaking like a wet dog would to get water off. "Bleh, I'm sorry, I'll turn the valve, you take this" Then she handed him a very old fashioned (but new fashion to them) looking socket wrench. The bronze color shined in the dim lighting. "One of my babies, you take care of it now, go, we don't have much time, I'll instruct you on what to do while I hold this, you must do it quick because I won't be able to hold the valve shut forever. But don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen to you" She reassured.

Winter

Soon enough, Angelo and Rin were on board. Winter gave a small smirk when she saw Rin turn tail and run the moment the younger girl laid eyes on her.

Good, she thought. She knows she's busted.

Winter turned and went in the other direction towards the bridge. All of the crew members were present and accounted for which meant her job was done and it was time to report in to the captain. Suddenly she heard a crash, and the metal workings of the ship shuddered. Echoes of the collision reverberated down the hallway, no doubt informing the entire crew. It seemed someone had finally caught up with them. Winter sprinted the rest of the way to the bridge, coming to a stop a ways behind Dexter.

"Captain," she said with barely a hitch in her breath, "Everyone's on board."

Aubrey sighed. “Yeah, I know, you're right.” He watched her try to crawl into the vent, keeping his hand ready on the handle for the valve, but she got stuck halfway and had to back out. “Okay, I've secretly always wanted to crawl through a vent anyway.” He said sarcastically. He pulled his sweater off over his head and tossed it on the floor, leaving him in his plain black tank top. He tried to reassure himself that he shouldn't feel self conscious, but he still wasn't buying it.

He took the socket wrench from her and weighed it in his hands, turning it over as if it fascinated him. He'd used one before, so he knew how it worked, that was just his natural reaction when someone told him something was important. “I'll be careful.” He assured her. “And, you shouldn't hate your woman hips, either.” He said, “They're nice.”

Instantly his face turned red. “No, wait, that's not what I meant. I mean they're fine. No, I mean, uh, I don't think you're girly, but, I, um...” He brought his hand up and slapped himself in the forehead. “You know what, I think I'll just get in the vent now.”

Aubrey crawled into the mouth of the vent, pushing the wrench in front of him. He wriggled through, using his elbows to pull himself along the metal surface. He fit perfectly, his sides just touching the edges but loose enough for him to move. He squirmed through several feet until he reached a spot where the vent turned upwards and then back towards itself, creating a U shape. After some awkward maneuvering, he managed to turn around so he could pull himself up and continue on, until he saw a fan. He stopped a foot or two away from it, then called out, his voice echoing through the metal. “Okay, I'm at the fan. Now what?”

She was glad that he said he'd be careful with her wrench, and little disappointed that she wouldn't be the one crawling through the vent. It'd also make it harder to explain what to do. Two years ago she was small enough to fit in the vent, but she had grown and now, due to her 'woman hips' couldn't make it through all the way. "And, you shouldn't hate your woman hips, either." Aubrey started to speak, Jax tilted her head and looked at him curiously. "They're nice" He finished. Her eyes widened and her cheeks went bright red to match his. The boy that she had a small crush on thought her womanly hips were 'nice', it made her feel like there were butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

When Aubrey tried to defend against what he had said, and ended up failing, Jax pushed her hands into her pockets and laughed trying to play it off. "It's fine, yes, just get in the vent, I get what you're saying, buddy"

Jax moved over to the valve and turned it with most of her strength so that the steam wouldn't come out of the vents and harm her friend. The pirate girl held it there with both hands so that nothing would happen just like she promised. When he made it through and let her know she nodded to herself and began to let out instructions by memory. "Alright, there should be a grate over the fan, you're going to have to take it off by removing the four bolts on each corner. it shouldn't take too long just a lot of work. Than once that is done, let me know if the fan is moving at all, my theory is that the bolt in the center of the fan is loose so it's acting up"

Angelo looked through his telescope that he had in a compartment in his crows nest, all he would need to judge what direction they would go and if anything came up. Angelo held up his telescope and a compass he had as he did a quick survey of the area and checked to see if their was anything they needed to avoid. Angelo checked and saw that their was a storm in the southeast possible storm front coming in from the south east captain, we should head to the north west to avoid it! Angelo called down knowing the irony of hating to noisy people yet he has to yell to be useful on the crew.

It seemed as though the world itself was holding her breath as the captain started to launch the ship. At first nothing happened, a few seconds passed, still nothing. Just as soon as the local police was a hands width away from the front door, the ship jerked away from the port and shot off into the sky. The sound was deafening, a roar of pure energy surrounded the ship and the people it held within. The captain was correct, a few of the local cruisers managed to keep up until they hit the open air, but this town lacked a formal fleet and the law enforcement was unable to keep up.

Then as soon as the ship hit the cruising height in the atmosphere, the sound was turned off. For a moment, all that could be heard was the feeble clucking of Clocky judging the crew, then the secondary system kicked in and the ship came alive.



"Well," said Taran after a moment. "I guess we really didn't need these after all," he said, patting one of the cannons while looking at Sakuya. With a bang the ball shot into the empty space. The cannon shot back, crashing into Taran. He ducked into an egg like shape for a second, slowing poking his head out to check for danger. "Yeah, um, I guess those are a bit dodgey," He gave a little awaked laugh. "I guess we should head down for a head count in the kitchen, erm I'm sorry, the 'Galley'" He said, emphasizing 'Galley' with air quotations. And with that he took off down the stairs, hoping to get there soon enough for snack. Defying death did make one rather hungry after all.

He slid into the kitchen a moment later and started going through Winter's 'treat/after dinner' cabinet.

“Thanks again, Winter.” He said, without looking up from the ship's controls. Dexter ran his fingers through his hair, staring outside through the window. He heard Angelo call out, warning him of the storms. He trusted his advice, so once they were out of danger and at a safe cruising altitude, he turned them North-West. Fortunately, that's the direction they needed to go anyway.

When he got them started on their course, Dexter turned away from the controls to look at Winter. He stuck his thumbs in his pockets and leaned against the ship's wall on his left. His demeanor was relaxed, but his eyes still looked calculating, as if he was busy plotting something. He wasn't, really, but he always had that sort of stern expression, looking like he was either contemplating what to have for lunch or who he should throw off the side of the ship.

“Our next stop is a little under a two day flight from here.” He said, “I'm expecting high security will be present, so hopefully no one was severely injured today. We're going to need all of them.” He paused, then raised his eyebrows in a not-quite-thinking-about-smiling sort of way. “So try not to kill any of the kids, 'ay? Get some rest; I'm sure everyone is tired. I will call when we're close and need to brief everyone.”

---

Aubrey listened carefully, Jax's voice sounding muffled and echoy inside the vent. He inched forward a little more until he could reach the fan. “Okay, bolts off first.”

He secured the wrench onto the bottom left bolt. It was awkward to maneuver the wrench in the tight space, but lucky the first bolt was fairly easy. The one on the opposite side was a little harder, simply because he was left-handed and it was on the wrong side, forcing him to use his right hand.

With a fair amount of grumbling, he managed to turn himself over so he was laying on his back, making it easier to use his arms. Working with his hands above his head, he reached for the first of the upper bolts, fitting the wrench onto it. However, the thing refused to budge on the first few turns. Aubrey yanked down hard on the handle of the wrench, and the bolt did eventually turn. When it did, however, the socket wrench slipped off the bolt's head and out of his sweaty hands, landing on his forehead with an audible thump. “Shit!”

He rubbed his temple for a moment and checked to make sure his hard head hadn't hurt the wrench. Yep, it was fine. He dried his hands off on his tank top and moved on, ignoring the new throbbing ache in his head. Once he got the last bolt off, he flipped back over and pulled the grate off the face of the fan. “Alright, I got the front off.” He called out, “The fan isn't moving at all.”

Jax nodded her head slowly, not ignoring the fact that she knew Aubrey had just had the wrench fall on his head. She tried not to laugh because she knew how it felt and was sorry for him. After hearing what he had to say she looked up, staring at the ceiling in thought. It was just as she had suspected, the fan wasn't moving at all, it most likely just needed to be tightened, it came loose from time to time in the past. If it was anything else she would have to have someone go grab some more things from her inventions corner in the crew men's quarters. "Alright, I know your head must be aching, but listen very carefully. The center bolt needs to be tightened, but it needs to be done quickly and with great skill if you don't do it quickly the fan will most likely kick on and shred your hand."

Jax smacked her forehead with one hand while still holding the valve shut. "That's not what I meant, you'll be fine, I believe in you, it's just a simple tightening job, hopefully, you got this!" She didn't want to mention that the valve was getting a bit harder to hold and she actually had to try with both hands to keep it held right, the pressure was building and needed to be released, but she would have to wait to Aubrey was safely out of the ventilation system. "Erm. no pressure but you need to hurry because of the pressure on the valve as well, it will blow if you don't get out soon."

They were running out of time, the fan, the pressure gauge and the captain weren't going to wait. Calm down, Aubrey's smart and fast, he's got this, Jax thought to herself.

“Sweet, not only will I be steam-fried, I'll also be shredded into bite-size pieces.”

Aubrey took a moment to gather his nerves. He placed his forehead on the floor of the vent, and inhaled deeply. One, two, three. He picked his head back up and slipped the end of the wrench on the bolt in the center of the fan. No time to waste. “Here goes.... a lot of things, really.” He turned the wrench carefully and quickly, making sure he kept a solid grip one it. He turned it in a full circle, and immediately the fan whirred to life. He retracted his hand, yanking back the wrench before he got caught by the metal blades.

“Success!” He announced, the relief evident in his voice. “I'll just put this back on...” He pushed the grate for the fan back into place and secured the bolts. It was much easier to put together them to take apart.

“Coming out!” Aubrey quickly wiggled backwards through the vent. Once again, getting past the bend proved difficult, but he managed. He slid out of the vent and flopped onto the floor, covered in sweat and the wrench clenched in one hand. “Taa-daa, Aubrey to the rescue.” He sighed, grateful to be out of the vent.

Jax waiting patiently, holding tightly onto the valve while she waited. The noise inside the vent told her how he was fairing and it sounded well. When the fan kicked on she didn't hear screaming but instead, "Success!", from Aubrey. Jax wanted to put her fist up as a victory thing, but she decided against putting her crew mate's life in danger. More waiting as Aubrey wriggled his way out of the burning hot shaft and out onto the floor. Oh man did she want to pull him up and hug him, not the first time she wanted to hug Aubrey. But of course she didn't. "You did it!!" Jax released the valve and ran over to grab Aubrey and carry him over her shoulder and out of the engine room.

With a joyous smile she placed him down in front of her and laughed. "Man, I couldn't have done it better myself, with the other repairs from the other mechanics the ship should be working just fine now. We got lucky 'cuz that was the easy stuff, glad you got out safe, might want to go bathe or something, I should too, I feel all gross" She shrugged, it wasn't anything knew, a pirate's life for them. "In any case, I'm starving and need to eat, let's go swipe a snack from the kitchen, yes?" Before he could answer she grinned mischievously and bolted through the ship toward the kitchen yelling behind her, "Race ya!"

Winter

Winter raised an eyebrow at the captain's command, the beginnings of a sly smile appearing on her face.

"Aye, Captain," she said in a voice that promised nothing. Turning away, she walked back to where she'd tossed her bags when she first got on the ship and walked into the galley to find Taran trying to sneak a treat from her cabinet. Winter placed her bags up on the counter and began the process of putting away the various food and medical supplies she'd picked up. She remembered the extra weapons too, and figured she'd have to go down to the armory after to deal with those.

Winter moved about the galley in her smooth, controlled way, putting away her various ingredients and medicines. She reached up to give Taran a light swat on the back of his head, never faltering. Then Jax and Aubrey were all but stampeding into the galley, clearly having the same idea as their older crew mate. Winter just shot them a look and continued. She stilled when she saw how dark blood was crusted all over Aubrey's neck, flaking whenever he moved. Some parts were even still wet, though it looked like the bleeding had stopped at least. Grabbing a cloth from the sink, she wet it and tossed it over to Aubrey.

"Start cleaning that," she said to him, gesturing to her own neck. "I'll patch you up when I'm done with this." With that she continued with her duties.

---

After everything was put away, and Winter'd done the rounds of making sure no one else needed medical care, she'd shooed everyone out of the galley and started on dinner. Tonight was a pot of rich stew, teeming with herbs and spices, along with chunks of vegetables and meat she'd picked up in Ballard. It was a hearty dinner after another close brush with the law – but more importantly, the layered flavors and texture would hide any hint of poison. Not that Winter'd put anything in anyone's bowls this time around. But it was good practice to keep any guilty parties guessing. She found the paranoia and anticipation to be almost as effective as actually following through with the threat. Not to mention it was cleaner.

Wiping her hands on a cloth, Winter finished setting all the steaming bowls on the table. Dinner was officially ready. She didn't call out or announce anything – the smell was enough of a dinner bell. Plus, meals were the one time of day when she didn't have to go hunting for anyone. They knew it was either come to the galley or don't eat.