First Breath Mingle!

[detectivewonder]

Who: The crew of the First Breath + visitors.
Broadcast: Nope!
Action: Aboard the First Breath or in station docking bays.
When: 4/25-4/31.

[Every week, regular as clockwork, Tim has a new plan to up ratings - although he doesn't put it like that to anyone out loud. This week, it's a bonding activity for the whole crew - painting their shuttles bright, custom colors. For his part, he doesn't have a color scheme in mind - he's focused on detail work, adding snarling mouths to their front, and impressive fictionalized kill tallies on their sides. If they might face raiders again, every little thing they can do to make themselves more impressive could coutn for a lot...]

Comments

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph has been focusing most of her work on one shuttle in particular, and it's... a lot of purple. It's mostly purple. It is too late to stop her now, you're all just going to have to deal with your bright purple shuttle. She has at least accented it with stripes of First Breath blue, so... there's that.

She comes up behind Tim while he's painting a kill tally on the side, leans in to rest her chin on his shoulder and study his work. It's cute. She's not sure it'll work, but it's cute. ] You really think our tiny adorable shuttles are gonna intimidate anyone?

[detectivewonder]

'Adorable' wasn't what I was shooting for with the paint jobs. But it can't really hurt.

[He finishes one more black and red raider silhouette, and starts to turn to look at her, or maybe to kiss her - but he puts his weight just wrong, and suddenly he's tumbling sideways along the wing, taking Steph and both paint cans with him.]

[mysunnydisposition]

They're shuttles, they're not exactly-

[ She breaks off with a little yelp, grabbing hold of Tim instinctively when he slips - and they both go tumbling. At least they both know how to fall without injuring themselves, and they've both taken much worse falls. Steph lands on top of Tim, but it's not even though to knock the breath out of them.

They are, however, covered in paint. Steph pushes herself up on hands and knees, and wipes a glob of paint off her forehead before it can drip into her eyes. ]

Well that was... graceful...

[detectivewonder]

Ten points out of ten. Uh.

[He blinks, groans, looks up at her, looks away when he realizes the way the paint soaks her shirt, coughs, and shakes his head.]

That... was unexpected.

[mysunnydisposition]

Well, if you'd planned it, I'd be a lot more annoyed right now. There's paint in my hair.

[ Steph rocks back onto her knees to take stock of the situation. Good thing she planned to stain these clothes anyway. Even if not this badly...

She groans softly, pushes herself to her feet, and offers Tim a hand up. The hand is purple. ]

So I guess we're done painting until we... clean up...

[detectivewonder]

Unless we're entering our modern expressionist phase, yeah.

[He grips her purple hand with his, ink-black, and hoists himself easily back up to his feet. Then, after a moment, he starts laughing.]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ As soon as Tim starts, Steph doesn't stand a chance, bursting into helpless giggles too. It's been a long time since she heard him really laugh, and hearing it again makes her whole body feel warm. ]

What? You know you're just as much of a mess as I am, right?

[detectivewonder]

You've- got handprints on your stomach.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ She looks down, and bites her lip to try to smother a fresh burst of laughter. It doesn't work at all, and she reaches up to smear a streak of purple down Tim's cheek. ]

I'm washing this off before it dries. You probably should too, unless you really feel like a haircut...

[detectivewonder]

A haircut?!

[That alarms him, sobers him quickly.]

Right. We'll have to make it quick - they only give us so much water.

... We're going to get paint everywhere on the way in.

[mysunnydisposition]

Yeah, probably. Just... try not to touch anything you don't have to, I guess? A few handprints and streaks of paint aren't going to ruin anything.

[ They give the ship character. Or something. Steph's already hurrying toward the showers, though, because she doesn't want to have to cut the paint out of her hair any more than Tim does. She leaves a trail of partial footprints and paint drops in her wake.

It's only when she gets to the actual bathroom that she stops, just inside the door. Right. Their showers don't have dividers yet. They're going to have to strip down together, at least to underwear and out of clothes that are still dripping paint. A few months ago, Steph would have been delighted at the idea. Now, since Black Mask... Steph's got a new set of scars that make her panicky and queasy when she pays too much attention to them, never mind the idea of someone else looking at them. Especially Tim...

They do still have to get the paint off them, though, quickly. She kicks off her shoes, turns back toward Tim with a smile just a little too false-bright. ] I'll help get it out of your hair if you'll help with mine?

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa is coming back from doing some shopping for the ship with a bag of groceries in one hand and something apple-like that she's munching on in the other. She stops to survey the progress being done, smiling a little. ]

...We should do this on the Bishop. I'll bet Hiro and Krista would have a blast.

[detectivewonder]

I can bring over any paint that's left here when we're done. Are you thinking the shuttles, or the whole ship?

[He turns with a smile, easily engaged - pleased the idea seems popular, because that means he's probably right that it will help ratings, although the more people who do it, the more diluted that effect might be.]

[howcanihelp]

That's a very kind offer, thank you!

[ Well, he'll probably get the most of the ratings, if that's any consolation. ]

I don't know, I'd probably poll the rest of the Bishop. ...Did you hear Krista stepped down as Captain?

[detectivewonder]

What? No! Why?

[howcanihelp]

[ Wow, that was emphatic. It surprises her a little, actually. ]

She said that after the attack, she felt like... she wasn't really in a position to lead the way she wanted, more or less.

[ she fidgets with the hem of her sleeve ]

She, ah. Asked me to be her replacement.

[detectivewonder]

Well... she made a good choice, anyway.

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa blushes a little, but grins ]

You think so? I hope she did. I agreed, of course. It would hardly be the most daunting command role I've taken, but... it still makes me nervous.

[detectivewonder]

It seems a lot less symbolic now that we know we might come under attack.

Still. Welcome to the club, Captain.

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa laughs. "Commander" she can handle, but "Captain" is strange and unsettling. Go figure. It seems ridiculous even to her. ]

Thank you, Captain.

I have to admit, this is more authority than I had as a Warden and less than I had as Commander of the Grey, so I'm... a bit at a loss. What should I even be doing for my crew?

[detectivewonder]

Make sure they can keep their heads in a crisis, and they know to listen to you when one hits. That's... really, that's about it.

[howcanihelp]

Ah, so it's very much like being the Warden-Commander then.

[ That's a joke, technically. She's... not expecting anyone to get it, though. Anders is pretty much the only one who would. ]

Well, we're all pretty responsible. So far, it bodes well, for them listening if I have to give orders. Not that they'll just listen to me, but we don't really... do much that requires giving orders if it's not necessary.

[deptofsass]

[ Steve, for his part, favours a more supervisory role of the paint process. Physical labor and menial tasks aren't really his thing. Never mind the fact that he's still new to the ship, he'll just nonchalantly order people around. ]

No, no, no, no. That blue clashes with the metal. It looks awful. Do it over.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Steph narrows her eyes at him from her perch atop one of the wings, not entirely sure he's serious. ]

It matches the First Breath symbol. [ She points with her brush to the emblem on the side of the ship. ] And it looks fine.

[detectivewonder]

You want to tell us what we should be doing instead?

[The question is a test, in a way - for Steve's sarcasm detector, if nothing else.]