Dallas | Boatswain | M: Flux, Shai, Ambrose, Javalasii (indir: Yutaka

~

Dallas was trying his best to focus on the immediate task at hand—getting to the top deck, finding Ambrose, getting the whole group in the air, and, ideally, not making a complete fool of himself. It should’ve been simple. It should’ve been.

But then Flux did that whole dramatic thing again. The fake pout, the batting of lashes, and the over-the-top hand on his chest as if Dallas had just accused him of murdering puppies or something. It wasn’t that Flux was a bad actor, it was that Dally knew he was playing him, and somehow that made it even worse. His stomach did this weird flip at the thought, at the way Flux turned everything into a joke. He felt the sharp tug of annoyance mixed with something he couldn’t quite name, but it didn’t matter, right? He was supposed to be ignoring that feeling, focusing on the task.

But—God, the way Flux had just looked at him.

Dally just kept his eyes focused on his feet as they climbed, resisting the urge to keep glancing sideways at Flux. He didn’t want to let on that Flux’s teasing was hitting a little too close to home. So instead, he played it cool, trying to match Flux’s banter with his own edge.

“I don’t take you for anything,” Dally shot back, the teasing edge in his voice a little sharper than he meant. “Just—don’t go picking up anything that'll explode and take us all down. Maybe leave the ‘sordid’ purchases for another time, yeah?”

His smirk widened as Flux threw out that pout, feeling a strange sense of victory at the playful back-and-forth. It was just... so easy to bait him, even though Dallas knew Flux was a master at it himself. The little jabs were starting to feel more like a game than an annoyance, and it caught him off guard. He wasn’t used to this, but damn if it wasn’t fun.

Dallas shook his head, keeping his eyes trained on the ground as they climbed. He didn’t want to look too eager, didn’t want Flux to catch onto how much the playful back-and-forth was... well, working.

“I’ll make sure I grab some high-tech gear too,” he added with a grin, “so we can have a proper tech showdown, right? Maybe I’ll pick up something that’ll make you regret calling me ‘Toffie’.” He glanced sideways, letting the words hang in the air, then shrugged like he didn’t care all that much.

At the sudden landing of Ambrose, Dally was jerked from his own teasing thoughts, and he barely suppressed the urge to flinch at the thud. He let out a small laugh, brushing off the unexpected reaction as he turned toward the dragon.

"Right, Java’ll be along in a bit." Dallas nodded, his hand absently smoothing back his hair. Ambrose was one hell of a sight, massive and intimidating. But Dally wasn’t intimidated—he knew how to handle his dragon.

When Shai mentioned Yutaka tagging along, Dallas shot Flux a sly look, raising an eyebrow. “Are we waiting for Yutaka, or are you planning on making him chase us down?” he teased, feeling that familiar warmth creeping up at the thought of Flux’s attention. Dammit, why did it have to be this hard to play it cool?

Flux, of course, was back to his usual self, throwing out more jargon that Dally barely followed. But he didn’t let it throw him off. Instead, he leaned in a little, giving Flux a look of mock sympathy. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to pick up something sensible so you’re not drowning in Boze-Einstein whatever-it-is tech that only you can understand.”

Then, with a quick glance over to Ambrose, Dallas reached out and gave the dragon a friendly pat on the side, pretending to focus on the huge creature as a way to distract himself from the growing tension between him and Flux. He couldn’t deny that he was enjoying this—more than he should be.

He turned his attention to the deck, his gaze flickering over the other dragons before he spotted Javalasii, sat away from the others—of course—, looking up at the sky. “Java!” He yelled in Human, and then switched quickly to Dragon as he watched her arch her head towards him. “Get ‘yer ass over here, we’re going shoppin’!”

-

-

Javalasii | Chaperone | M: Dallas (indir: Vasilios, Shai, Flux, Ambrose)

~

The shout of her human startled her slightly, the spikes she had just managed to flatten raising slightly and poking out from under her fur. Java turned her head, flaring her wings slightly in irritation as she glared at him with icy, pale blue eyes. She rose to her talons, much to her disdain. Natural of him to order her around, but she’d gotten used to it. She’d do it to make him happy.

Javalasii stalked over to Dallas, eyeing him. “Bandage?” She growled, nodding at the poorly wrapped garment. “Did you go to Vasilios, or did you do it yourself?” She already knew the answer to that question. Vas would never dare wrap something that bad, and Dally would have been in the medbay longer than he was. Java fluffed up her fur. “You’re an idiot. You should still be in there.”

She turned her head to look at Shai, then—Flux. Oh, Flux. The poor man. If Java could feel emotions strongly, she’d feel horrible for him. Having Dallas attached to her side was bad enough—she couldn’t imagine how he felt. Then she turned to look at Ambrose. She’d never been fond of him. A small tip of her head in greeting was all that was needed.

Yutaka - Engineer - Mention(s): Vasilios, Ava (ind: Mylo, if they're still in the medbay)

~

Yutaka nodded, pocketing the sheet of paper - and transferring a faint trace of oversaturated oil condensate onto it upon doing so. Like he had done with Flux's paper. His hair. The wall. The seat of his pants. And... uh, basically, whatever he'd touched after leaving the engine bay - god forbid that he could ever wash it off of his hands with how he washed them. That is, to say - putting them palms-down under a tap for a few seconds.

If he couldn't see it, it didn't matter that much, did it?

Vas's query of what he was going to get lit up his face. Maybe it wasn't such a waste of time to be doing this after all.

"A Boze-Einstein 92-P tetraquark coherence regulator, really. It's maybe fifty thousand credits or so -" he cringed slightly at the big number "- but then without it the oversaturated oil condensate and the arterial fusers will improperly balance the coherence of the condensate, which it was doing." Fully in the zone now, he continued rambling on, unaware of who exactly he was talking to - read, a person who probably had no idea what he was saying.

"Without the correct vibrations of the condensate, the octolateral imbalance of the internal pumps of the engine may cause it to rapidly disassociate itself with the core quantum lighter, which in turn will imbalance the levels of hyperthin liquid hydraulic, leading to condensate clots, and-" Yutaka caught himself as he looked around, and realized where exactly he was.

It was the freaking medbay. No-one of which who might have vaguely understood him was here.

"- and... ah... yeah. Uhhh... nothing that can't be fixed." He smiled encouragingly, trying to brush past what he had just said.

His attention was distracted, however, as the woman spoke again, and Yutaka looked at her curiously. He'd definitely never seen her before. And as Vas... was 'jumped into action' the right word here?... he looked curiously between the two of them, thoughts of the coherence regulator and the resultant issues that may have occured within itself momentarily forgotten.

"What's your name?" Yutaka almost suprized himself when he said it, even though it had occurred to him a few seconds ago. He hadn't considered it, but he just said it.

He didn't say it with any ill intent in his voice. He was just genuinely curious. Quite a neutral tone, really. Although, it wasn't like he had good social skills - the day that Yutaka acquired excellent social skills would be the day the crew would grow wings and be able to fly without their dragons. Which was likely a long time away.

Yutaka moved from the doorway, where he'd been rambling on, to the side of the bed. People finding and landing on their base - that was rare. Extremely so, in fact, and even rarer that they landed here without Cap's permission.

Even rarer was the fact that said person was also medically incapitated. By... berries.

Honestly, it was more valid than Yutaka's most common reason for coming to the medbay, which was from having too much fun with engine maintenance. What was the count now? Yutaka wasn't keeping track, but if Vas was, he wouldn't be suprized at whatever number he pulled out.

So what was this woman doing here? Was she a spy? Or did she genuinely need help?

More importantly, why here? They weren't a very common destination - or really a known destination at all. And Yutaka would figure this out, hopefully - starting with this person's name.

The scoff that rocketed from the back of Flux’s throat was so loud it almost surprised himself. Drown in Bose-Einstein- the other man was jabbering nonsense. How could someone drown in that? He waved a hand dismissively towards Dallas.

“You can keep your gaudy and leisure tech to yourself, thanks Toffie.” He huffed, giving the other man a short look that betrayed the underlying amusement that seeped into his expression. He was absolutely going to abuse that name now, why shouldn’t he if Dallas was threatening to take away his usage of it. He had to get his money’s worth now.

Flux’s eyes darted up as he heard Shai’s voice ring out across the deck from where he was perched on Ambrose. It took him a moment to spot the human up on the dragon’s shoulders and he waved a hand.

“I reckon meet ‘im there.” He offered in return before quickly adding. “Which one of yous am I ridin’ with?” He shouted up to him, giving one little look towards Dallas with a raised eyebrow.

He knew that Dallas would actually enjoy riding with him, but it would be a chaotic journey for the other man. For Flux, the journey would be incredibly entertaining.

“Do you want me to go with you and Java?” This time, Flux kept his voice quieter, no need to scream his question at Dallas. He offered it up with a reassuring smile, the edges crooked and it pulled on his scarring rather sharply. He had grown used to that feeling.

As he waited for his reply, he glanced over the top of Dallas and spotted Urchin and that weird spiney dragon, he straightened his spine as he watched Urchin hop around. It seemed only one person really liked their freeloader. Then again, Urchin liked everything.

Yutaka - Engineer - Mention(s): Vasilios, Ava (ind: Meliora, Cassiopeia)

~

Yutaka's brows furrowed slightly as she said her name, as he internally tried to remember if he's ever seen her before.

... had he ever met an Ava before? Probably not, if he was being seriously honest. So he should probably stop thinking about it. Looking at Ava for a second longer - she didn't seem the type of person who'd blow up their ship, and probably had honestly needed help.

"Yutaka. Ship's engineer." He frowned down at the brownish-black stain on his shirt like it had personally offended him. (It really hadn't.) Nonetheless, he continued on after a brief hesitation - should he say something else? Maybe? Perhaps? His social skills were still lacking - so he decided to not start a conversation and keep going.

She didn't seem to be hostile. And, the more he thought about it, Vas was perfectly capable of handling anything that came up in the process. Yutaka's initial resolve to figure out what exactly was happening here was crumbling quite quickly indeed - it was only then that he realized how freaking late it already was, and his mission was not to interrogate this strange woman who had crash-landed on their ship, but to do a quick evening shopping spree.

After Ava spoke, another thought occurred to Yutaka. "I'm on my way up to the deck right now, so if you want I can make sure your dragon..." - what was the dragon's name? Damnit, he hadn't been paying too much attention. Yutaka stalled for an embarrassingly long moment trying to remember what she had said.

"... your dragon, uhhhhh. Yeah. Uh, if your dragon is fine." What was he saying? He'd already half-forgotten - it was now thinking about if he could get a discount on the coherence regulator. "Since I'm going up there anyway, I can just check that your dragon's there." Why was he repeating stuff? Should he just stop talking? Probably.

Ears slightly red, he stepped back as Vas came up, and was as solid as a pole for far too long as he regained his dignity. Which wasn't much, at least on this ship.

Finally looking at Vas, he fiddled with the bottom of his shirt before continuing. "Well... I'd probably better get going if I want to get back to the base by midnight. I trust that you can handle-" he jerked his head at Ava, "- this?" He patted his pockets for an anxious moment, trying to find Vas's list that he had pocketed barely a minute ago. Thankfully, it was still there.

"Does that sound alright?" If it wasn't alright, he'd be going anyway. Unless Urchin was in the doorway, which thankfully, she wasn't.

Dallas | Boatswain | M: Flux, Shai, Javalasii (indir: Yutaka)

Dallas barely held back a noise—something between a scoff and a strangled laugh—at Flux doubling down on Toffie. He knew he should’ve never given the man ammunition. Now it was going to haunt him for ages. He opened his mouth to fire back, but then Flux threw out that damn question, and Dallas' brain short-circuited for a second.

Which one of them was he riding with?

Dallas swallowed, forcing himself not to react too quickly. His stupid heart was already slamming against his ribs at the idea of having to sit that close to Flux for an entire flight. His mind, already prone to overanalyzing, was doing mental acrobatics. Would agreeing be too obvious? Would declining make him look weird? Would Flux notice if he hesitated too long?

He had to play this off. Keep it casual. No big deal.

“Pfft, yeah, if you think you can handle Java,” Dallas finally said, letting a smirk tug at his lips. “She’s a lot softer than you are, though. Might be too much luxury for a roughneck like you.”

It was mostly a joke. Mostly.

Java, already sensing the shift, huffed through her nose and gave a slow blink that Dallas was pretty sure was judgment. She always had a way of making him feel like she knew all his dumb little secrets.

Then, with a lazy shrug, Dallas motioned toward his dragon. “C’mon then, unless you’re suddenly scared of a little fluff.” He shot a teasing look at Flux, trying—desperately—to keep himself from overthinking the fact that he just invited his crush to straddle a dragon behind him for the whole trip.

Yeah. No way that was gonna be a problem.

To avoid dwelling on it, Dallas turned his attention to Shai. “Meeting Yutaka there’s probably for the best. Less waiting around means we get this done quicker.” He paused, then added dryly, “And less time for you to start getting ideas about what else to bring home.”

Dallas had zero illusions about Shai sticking to his supposed shopping list. That man was going to show up with something ridiculous, and they all knew it.

~

Javalasii | Chaperone | M: Dallas, Shai (indir: Flux, Ambrose)

She had never been fond of being touched. It was not a comforting or welcomed thing. Dallas was the only one she let touch her, and even then, she usually pushed him away. He could find some human to cuddle, instead of flopping on her and making her fur all hot. It was not comfortable.

Obsidian spikes flared once more, standing at attention at the pat. Ick. But she angled her head anyway, listening to the instructions as best as she could without thinking about biting Shai's head off. The blue-haired boy was annoying, at the least, but tolerable.

Tolerable.

But then he had to pat her again.

"Pixie," she snarled under her breath, knowing full well he couldn't understand her, and earned a small glare from Dallas.

Java ignored Shai as he spoke to Ambrose, instead angling her head toward Flux, listening as he joked. Flux was one person she could appreciate, although all of the humans were still annoying. Again, she felt bad for him.

Offers. Offers to ride her. Really, she minded less that Flux wanted to ride her than Dallas. But, with a sigh, she laid down and allowed him to take fistfuls of her mane, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye as he jumped slightly from a spike jabbing into his thigh.

"You pull on my ears this time and I'm throwing you into a black hole," she growled at him, sitting up slightly to force him to slide back further on her back, away from the danger. And, also so she could arch her neck and attempt to lay down them once more with her coal black tongue.

She remained lying, however. Flux could get on if he wanted. Or not. It didn't matter to her, as long as he didn't tug on her body parts like a certain Handorian curd.