Peter turned towards her with a grin, already looking as though he had won. "Yesss! Allie agrees with me! We should throw a party!" he chirped, ignoring her question for a moment to stall. He needed to think about what kind of party it was. He'd never really considered calling his parties any particular kind or type of party, having done both simple affairs with a close friends and Dionysian-level revels. Those were immensely fun to his excitable personality. After several moments of thinking, Peter realized he couldn't come up with a sort of party to call it that quickly.
"I dunno what kind of party, exactly," he admitted with a slight shrug, all charisma. "Just those of us on the crew, maybe a few others if we're feeling fancy. Some music, some alcohol. Dancing. That sort of thing. That's the kind of parties I'm used to, more or less." He gave them another smile, this time more of a sheepish one, trying to get them to go along with his idea.
"C'mon, we could really use some excitement around here that doesn't involve our possible deaths," he added. "You guys can't say I don't have a point. We've all been stressed lately, and I really think it could do us some good!"
Luna looked up from her screen and rolled her eyes, a smirk making it's way on her face. "Hey Pan." She sat back in her seat and crosses her arms. Of all the people in the ship, it would be obvious that Luna and Peter would be the 2 that knocked heads the most but they actually had a good relationship. "I dont think a party is a bad idea but we still need to deliver the goods. I may just have ti keep some scales for myself, they have amazing healing and killing properties." She said, adding an afterthought.
Ravenna ran and made the ship right as the doors were closing and blew a kiss through the window. "I'll see all o' yeh next month!" She walked away, half cackling half coughing. The ship didn't really have a captain, no one could accept another having more power than the other so Ravenna and the bot shared control. They worked well together but fought more than cats and mice. "That was fun!" She said, walking into the navigation room.
“I wonder what other properties they have… Could I keep a small handful of the scales, Captain?” Alice asked, tilting her head slightly. “To experiment with.” Honestly, Alice had often struggled a bit with some of her family's traditional studies but after being in Wonderland she found there was more than one way to learn things and it turned out she was a very hands-on type of student. So it wasn't much of a surprise that she took so well to experimenting.
Peter nodded as she spoke, the only thing really going to his brain the part about a party not being a bad idea. His face lit up, going from the face of a guy who's doing his best to get what he wants to an enthusiastic beam. "That's not a no!" he cheered, pumping his fist in a victory he was sure he had. "This party is going to be off the hook! Once we get those goods delivered, I'm going to make sure everyone on this ship has some fun for once! Some of you guys need to loosen up a bit!" he teased, glancing at Luna with a wink.
He really did want to provide a small break in the daily stress of almost dying for his crew. And he was certain he'd have fun if he threw a party, but that was beside the point. He wanted to make sure that they all had a good time.
Once everyone was on the ship, Ella went for it with the guns. She had been getting more and more trigger happy as of late, but that was not a subject she wanted to discuss anytime soon. There was just something so satisfying about blowing things up. She loved it, and honestly, it scared her. It had to be the remnants of the coding from her father's sister, since she refused to think of the woman as anything other than that. Ella shook it off, trying to focus on making sure the enemy didn't get anything close to their ship.
"Let's get out of here, already!" she demanded, ignoring Ravenna's comments. Ella did not think this was fun. Ravenna was just out of her mind, most likely. Or were all flesh and blood creatures this weird? Ella wanted to give the poor idiots the benefit of the doubt in this scenario, but there were times she truly wondered about that. She just wanted to be done this mission and start on the next one. All she cared about was the high of doing her job and the money that could get out of this, not much else. Unlike some people, she didn't live for danger.
"Peter," luna looked at him with a pointed glance. "Nothing too crazy, I would rather not have to deal with a noise complaint right now." She winced, last time they had a party, it got a little out of hand and the other members of the crew were not happy the next morning. Luna turned towards Alice and pulled up an inventory list on the main screen. "We only need to deliver 75% of the scales we collected, I was going to use some to create more concoctions which would use up about 5% more. That leave 20% of the overall amount. That is about 30 scales, is that good?" She asked, doing some quick math. The scales were a lot heavier than they looked. Each on was roughly the size on an adult Terran hand and weighed roughly the same as a Terran newborn, which is why it wasnt a very easy mission.
Ravenna rolled her eyes and sneered. "Ruin all the fun why don't you." She walked to the console and took the ship up and oit of the atmosphere. "Where to next? I'm thinking we stock up on all supplies before doing another mission."
Jun was busy cleaning a few weapons off, but they had still been listening in on the conversation. A party could be nice, but was now really the time?
"I don't think a little celebration would hurt," they added, "but do we have the funds to pay for said party? I'd always be down for a good meal and some drinking. That's celebration enough for me. But that's not what you had in mind, is it?"
Jun shrugged.
"Either way, this delivery comes first. Not all of us are here for fun, as much as we'd like to be."
Alice smiled at the generous offer and nodded. “That should be more than enough. Thank you very much, Captain.” she agreed. Thirty scales was actually more than she anticipated but she certainly wasn't going to complain. She gave a small jump when she noticed Jun standing nearby. “Where did you come from?”
"Oh, I've uh… I've been here almost the whole time," Jun replied with a sheepish smile, "I've been mostly focused on my work. Didn’t have a whole lot to say, I guess."
They set one of the guns back in its holder on the wall.
"Just doing my job and listening in, as usual."
"Jun is right, delivery comes first. That would free us from the burden of responsibility and we would be able to have at least a few days off before we go look for more work. The buyer did say they would lay a very hefty amount for this and these aren't cheap, it did take us almost 2 months of constant work to get this much." Luna got out of her seat and waved her hand, opening the stellar map hologram on the wall. "We should have enough fuel to jump to the next station, we can refuel there and make it to the Intirium Market in a little less than a day. We can get supplies and you can get your party supplies Peter." She said, one eye closed in thought.
“Of course you were, Jun. I'm sorry. I must not have seen you.” Alice apologized with a soft sigh. Fool girl… You would think that you would be more observant of your surroundings by now. she sighed at her lapse. Of course, she didn't need to be on guard all the time while she was on the ship but she didn't like being vulnerable.
Alice nodded at Captain Luna’s idea, seeing the logic in the plan. Since she was only the strategist on the ship, she knew that her approval wasn't needed… but she often still had a hard time keeping her opinions to herself. “I think that is reasonable. No need to put the cargo at risk.” she smiled faintly for a moment before shaking her head. “If you will excuse me. I was just heading to the galley to make some tea. Would any of you like some?”
Peter was still grinning, not put off in the least by the others' comments. Nothing too crazy, got it. He could do that. Probably. Maybe. He'd try his best, anyway. He just listened to the rest of the conversation while his mind went wild with planning. He wondered how short of notice he could get a cake or something. He wasn't exactly a great chef himself, as shown when he had last tried to make something–a simple banana bread–and ended up setting the oven on fire. Yeah, Peter and cooking were like oil and water. They did not mix well.
At the offer of tea, he thought for a moment before responding. He had always enjoyed the stuff, especially with some honey or sugar, having a bit of sweet tooth. "I'll take some, if you don't mind," he accepted, glancing towards Alice. "What kind of tea is it?"
Ella rolled her eyes at Ravenna's first response. God, people were annoying sometimes, especially this girl. It was a bit too easy for the woman to get on Ella's nerves. "I wouldn't call running for our lives fun," she retorted. "Glad you seem to enjoy it, though." Another thing that she had gotten from her father's sister–sarcasm. She'd known what it was before, of course, but she hadn't really started using it until after her father had died and that awful woman had inputted code into Ella's mainframe. But sarcasm was largely harmless–and usually deserved–so that was much less internal debate on her part.
"Stocking up on supplies sounds smart," she agreed after a moment. "We will run out of the necessary supplies to get by comfortably in about three days if we don't stock up before then. Four if we ration things a bit, like I've been suggesting for the past who knows how long."
The mention of tea made Luna frown, it had been some time since she had tea. One could say her relationship with the beverage was tense, she had drank some at a party and it was smiled on her, burning some of her scales. Anytime someone asks about the large scar on her forearm, she says that someone had cut her in a fight. "I'll take some as well, Alice. Let me know when you all are prepared to go and we can jump into hyperdrive."
"Awe come on Ellie, yeh can't tell me tha' runnin' after taking supplies isn't fun." She grinned again. Arty floated up to where she was and squeaked. "Arty says that yer too tense, loosen up a bit." Ravenna pulled up the ship's inventory list and smirked. "Thas good an' all, but yeh know when we jump, I need to feed." She winked and leaned into the wall.
Ella twitched at the nickname, annoyed. "Don't call me Ellie," she snapped, adjusting her ponytail slightly, even though there was nothing wrong with it. She reached up to her forehead, feeling the loose strands there. "Dammit," she hissed under her breath as she did her best to get them under control. It didn't do much.
"I don't care what Arty says," she added, once again directing her words at Ravenna. "One of us needs to have some sense of self preservation around here, and it's clearly not you. I can't help it that I want to live longer than the next week, and hopefully not starve ourselves while doing so." While being a robot meant that Ella didn't have to eat food in the way humans and other creatures did, she still had to get some sort of nutrition to keep herself running in the form of energy. Not batteries, but she was created with Terrans in mind, who needed sustenance to survive, and while her core and mainframe were powerful, she couldn't just keep running without any source of fuel. So she ate like humans, but what she ate was a lot different. She hated describing the complex nature of it to people, in all honesty. They never got it. But whatever.
(still trying to figure out exactly how ella's body functions but i've got a basic idea so sorry if that sounds a lil vague lol)
“I was just thinking about a simple green tea to relax. Unless you have any other preferences.” Alice admitted with a little shrug. She remembered that Pan liked his more on the sweet side but she couldn't recall if anyone else had a particular favorite blend.
"Don't disrespect Arty like that, i may not be sensitive, but he is." She sneered and adjusted her hat. Ravenna pulled up a star map and typed in some coordinates. "The closest station is the one in the Alpha-Sig186 galaxy. It should take us no more than a day to stock supplies. Let's get going shall we?" She turned around to head into her room but stopped for a moment and turned back around. "I dont need ad much food as Terrans do unless its near my shedding time. You may be a robot but I've met more sensible creatures than you." She smirked and walked out, singing a song of drowned souls on the way.
"Alice you are Terran, yes? Is Green tea made by extracting the colour green? Ot sounds wonderful." Luna said. She plotted coordinates for the Alpha-Sig186 galaxy and stood up. This is the closest station to us and we can jump once we relax with tea."
Alice couldn't help but laugh at the question as she shook her head. “No… I, forgive me, I am Terran but green tea is not made that way.” she answered, calmly but still smiling. “It is good especially with honey or sugar but it's just called that… Actually, I'm not sure why it's called that.” she admitted with another giggle.
"Strange, you Terrans with all your fancy technology and strange creations, I thought it would be logical." She said with a laugh. "I wonder what a green extract would taste like." She hummed and made her way to the on board library. "Do you mind if I join you all a little later? I want to read up on the Rixian scales, I know there are something you do not want to combine but I can't seem to remember what."
"Sounds good to me," Peter said breezily, in a bit more of a calm mood now that they'd moved on from discussing a party. Some green tea with honey sounded really nice to him right about now, anyway. "Mind if I tag along while you make tea?" he asked, directing the question to Alice. He frequently spent time with someone else on the ship whenever possible, liking to be around the others more than just spending time alone. Not that he never spent time alone, it was just more common for him to seek out someone to bother. When he got really into a drawing or idea or something, he could end up spending more time alone than usual.
He rocked back and forth on his heels, one of his habits. Peter had always had a bit of a hard time sitting still, tending to shift a lot when sitting down for long periods of time or do little dances when he was bored. He didn't always notice these little quirks of his, but he found it amusing when people pointed it out. It was just part of his charm, he supposed.
Ella watched her go with an almost comical frown. Man, Ravenna could get on her nerves like no other. She huffed, trying to distract herself with thoughts about a book she had read recently. Ella loved to read; anything that could teach her things was entertaining to her, though she did enjoy fiction as well. It went straight to her head, making Ella a bit prone to daydreams sometimes, a trait that would seem almost bizarrely out of character for those around her. It was quite at odds with her logical mindset and straightforward way of being. At any rate, after a few moments of trying to get herself to be calm again, she went to her own room to read.
Alice shrugged a little. “I don't often pay attention to much logic. It's easier not to question certain things.” she admitted to Luna before nodding at Pan’s query. “You may come if you wish. You are the First Mate.” she smiled a little mischievously as she walked out of the navigation room and towards the galley.
Peter trailed after her, fiddling with the necklace he was wearing as he went. He gave the others a brief wave as he left. "See you guys later," he added, as headed out. He tended to walk at a fairly quick pace, not because he was in a hurry, mostly just because he had long legs, so he was able to catch up to Alice fairly quickly. "So how are you feeling?" he asked, trying to start a conversation up with her.
“As well as can be expected after that mission.” Alice admitted with a casual shrug. It wasn't as if that mission was anything out of the ordinary for the crew but it was nonetheless stressful. And perhaps a bit enjoyable. “How are you, Peter?” she asked to be polite.
(I'm thinking that Raven and Ella stop at the station and board the hero's ship and they have a short battle. Its there that they find out about the piper)
“I’m doing good!” he answered enthusiastically. Peter was in good spirits after the party being approved, though honestly he was in good spirits a lot of the time anyway. Though he’d been nervous and more than a little scared during the fight, there was no way to tell now. He was good at hiding his emotions behind bravado.
(I think that's a good plan.)
“Of course you are. You just got the Captain's approval to throw one of your infamous parties.” Alice smiled, that same teasing tone back in her voice again. “Not that I'm complaining. I'm just not a big drinker but you already know that.” she reminded him casually. She could hold her liquor well enough, she simply tried to remain more sober than some of the crew. It wasn't a good idea to get a half-mad woman drunk.
Ravenna emerged a few hours later from her room, after having charmed half the crew into doing her chores. She made her way to the weapons room and grabbed her favourite sword. The sharpness of the blade was decent but still she grabbed a sharpening block and went to the navigation room. She double checked the coordinates for the station then went to her seat, sat on the arm rest, and sharpened her blade.
Luna had finished taking notes on the Rixian scales and was watching Rattle chase a mouse in the library. After a few minutes he caught the creature and swallowed it then made his way to Luna with a seemingly happy face. "Silly snake, if you were hungry you should have asked me for food." Rattles flicked his tongue and slithered up her staff. She flicked her own tongue in response then left the library to head down to where Alice and Pan were binding over tea.
"Not everyone has to get drunk," he responded with a shrug. "It's just one of the options. Besides, I'm trying to see if I get some sort of cake too. To celebrate, ya know? I could just attempt to make one but I like this ship and I don't want to burn anything down by accident." He chuckled. "Anyway, it's gonna be great. Party of the year for sure."
He was still talking, not having seen Luna approaching yet. Peter was ebullient, full of good cheer. When he was in a good mood, he tended to talk the ear of whoever would listen. When he was in a bad mood, he would often still do that, just more on the side of complaining and being sarcastic than joyful rambling.
"So, what have you been up to recently? Any cool projects or whatnot?" he added, trying not to completely take over the conversation.
Alice didn't mind Peter’s rambling since it almost reminded her of a couple of… friends who did the same thing, just with less sense. “I do agree that a cake would be a nice touch but if your attempt to cook anything ends up in flames, perhaps you should simply purchase one instead of risking the wrath of Luna.” she pointed out, smirking as she finally poured tea for everyone. It was almost a habit for her to pour a cup for everyone, even if they were not in the room yet. “Nothing very new at the moment. Though I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with those scales.” she smiled with a small spark in her eye that normally meant she was going to mix the newest ingredient with just about everything.
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