"STEAM LONDON" Game Thread

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick took the gun and gave Emma a reassuring smile.
"She's in good hand, I assure you. If anything, she needs to watch out for me! In a place like germany, a madboy like meself could get hurt!" He chuckled as if this were no doomed mission but rather, some pleasure cruise in which fine dining and good drinks would be had by all. Though it chilled Emma to know he was fulyl aware his food and drink would be rations and bottled water. He slipped the aetherphones around his neck.
"I'll give ye a call if anything happens."

"I think it was called a Library." Cain said thoughtfully. The name sounded very right, though he had made no effort to read the sign that said Library. He was beginning to think he knew more than he knew he knew.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss was glad that he had gotten the fife out. As usual, playing it made everything seem brighter and less dire. He laughed at his skittishness whileshaving. "It probably is just a big rat we picked up somewhere, " he chuckled. "And me cleaning out the ducts, disturbing all that impacted dust, Lord, that would have been a mistake.

EVERYBODY would have demanded that I tell them why I suddenly felt it was necessary, and I'd break down and tell them about that and the ginger headed guard at Tinker's row and that old man, and they'd have me tied up in the hold so fast I'd soil my gaiters...

Well, keep a sharp eye, Dreyf, he told himself. There's still two commodores out there, at least...

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma ruffled Patrick's hair just like he was her little brother.  "Just come back to us whole. George would be devastated if he lost the one person he likes to pick on the most.  Take care of those kids.  Angel is getting smarter every day and I never would have imagined Cain could be so loving."  Emma had to stop herself from crying. "Come home as soon as you can alright?"

"Thanks Cain."  The special story place was called a library and you could read as much as you wanted there.  Mr Anton brought a lady to meet Inac and The Angel. The lady didn't seem to understand them very well but she was nice so it was ok.  And then they went in to a magic room full of flowers.  There were colors and smells The Angel had never seen.   Inac was very smart and he told The Angel all about flowers and why you should not eat them.  The Angel met a bee but she killed it and she was very sorry.  "Poor bee." Angel said to herself.

[Nigel Wetherby]

"You didn't kill it, the bee knew it would die, but it sacraficed itself because it beleived its home was in danger. IT died protecting what it loved." Cain said, touching her shoulder and reflecting upon the courage and sacrafice of the bee.

Patrick found it fascinating that Emma called the Airship home. He found that it had been in fact what the ship had become a bit like a home, and the crew much like a family.
"I'll be back in two shakes of a lambs tail. I cant let ye have all the fun!" He said with a chuckle He and the others would ship off in the morning.

[ShredsnPatches]

Jen threw aside the blankets and jumped out of the bed. She had finally given up on sleep after several hours tossing and turning. The gentle music of a fife filtered through the door as she made her bed and spread her kit out on it. Herbs, water canteen, comb, blanket, clean shirts socks and underwear, a bar of soap and a small towel, a sewing kit. Her food rations were in the galley, and satisfied that everything else was in order, Jen turned her attention to weaponry. In a hip-holster she had stored the box gun. Beside it she laid out the spanner sword, and several deadly blades she had found in the house - a long sword and three wickedly sharp daggers to hide in various places on her person.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick himself was feeling less and less hungry as days went by. Usually he could eat enough for a small army, but the young man seemed rather culinarilly stoic. He placed the Deus Ex Machinae in his tool bag, as it seemed to want him to. He looked to the closet which housed his spare body which lay within his closet curled up in a fetal positioin.
"Here's hopin I wont need ye, lad" He said as he packed a few rations, some heat-rune inscribed plates, the new microwave gun, a rifle packed with heat rune bullets and an Aetheric pistol. After placing his weapons in their holsters on his person, he reached for his rapier, whirling it in the air and sheating it with pinpoint precision that surprised even him.

After his last shower before the trip, Patrick checked how far the deus matter was spreading. The reddish material seemed to have taken his entire torso. It looked as of he were slowly being painted over by some ancient artists that was not painting a man, but a warrior. After several experiments, he learned he could let his skin maintain its human softness, but it would harden like diamond whenever he brought a knife blade down upon it. However, there were points of weakness in this new skin. White veins which seemed to travel lazily across his body and form ornate pattenrs revealed this. However, before his experiments could continue, Jen called him to a small air clipper.

Cain colored the last of the illustrations for their latest entry into the book.
"Come now, angel. People in germany need us." Cain Urged gently, taking a lollipop from the jar they had been given and sucking it idly as Angel arrived beside him. The two headed for the ship, surprisingly more serene than Patrick and jen, though they knew not why.

[Stella Gaslight]

Emma had dragged herself out of bed at dawn to say goodbye.  She gave them all hugs and wished them well.  For the first time since she had left her parents in Boston she felt homesick.  Emma crawled back in to bed beside Trip, exhaustion had yet to loosen it's grip on her.

Angel looked at Patrick and Jen smiling as they joined hands. "You two are for always like Cain and me right?  You should have the marks too."

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss remained at the controls, keeping the Boheme steady on course; That was easy. What wasn't easy was keeping tack of the traffic around him. None came close enough to warrant a navigational problem (they all stayed several miles away), but they all seemed to be heading in the same direction as teh Boheme,  and they all seemed to be intent upon staying within eyeshot, althouhg how he knew that, Dryefuss couldn't say, since the Boheme had not varied from its course in more than the usual amounts required to maintain a "steady as she goes" course in the face of shifting wind direction and occasional turbulence in teh medium.

It was during a typical interval of heading into the teeth of a stiff breeze that it became necessary to steer at an angle across the oncoming flow in order to maintain forward momentum., Speed decreased, of course, noticeably so, and the captain called the Steering room to see what was teh matter.

"Stiff breeze from ahead, Captain." Dreyfuss answered the com. "I had to put her slightly athwart the flow, sir, to minimize yaw and maintain forward motion; We're still making headway, sir, but we might do well to put on a bit more engine speed to bring our forward velocity back up to the former level; the breeze seems to be getting stronger."
"Very well, increase RPM by 35 percent," The captain ordered.
"Aye, sir, inceasing now." and Dreyfuss pushed teh throttle forward until the RPM indicator showed the proper increase. The ship's speed increased back to its former rate, plus a bit more.Dreyfuss considered, and decided better to be sure than sorry, so he pushed teh com button again and asked, "Captain Hudson?"
"This is Hudson"
"Sir, do we have an Aether league escort ? there seem to be about three ships pacing us, each at a different quarter, at an average distance of about 3 miles for about an hour now, sir, and I've had no hails of any sort from any of them." Back when Dreyfuss captained teh Mad Anthony, such close distances required at least semaphore hails to establish intent.
"I'll beright there, Jaisen," Hudson answered.

[ShredsnPatches]

Jen stiffened and blushed a little.

"Marks?"

[MWBailey]

Captain Hudson walked into the Steering Room, and took the opportunity to show Dreyfuss how to set the Autopilot. "We've had that escort ever since we met the convoy" he said. "it's nothing to worry about. Worry when they're forced to break off." Yes, sir. I didn't mean to overreact."
"things being the way they are, Jaisen, I'd prefer you did overreact as oppose dto not reacting at all. Why don't you go and pay your respects to Patrick, Jen, Angel, and Cain? they'll be leaving in just a moment"

Dreyfuss made it to the little group just as Angel meantioned "the marks." Dreyfuss listened to the explanation, said "that sounds like a great Idea to me; 'course, I'm not the guy getting hitched!"

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick inhaled deeply, knowing it was a very real possibility the two would not make it out alive. He got on a single knee, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a golden ring decorated with a diamon and cross.
"Jen, ye've stayed by me side no matter what crazyness I dragged ye through. Ye saved me life countless times, and I couldnt think of a more perfect woman to ask this..." Here he got on one knee.
"Jennifer Sheehan, will ye marry me?"

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Elisha looked out the porthole at the clear blue sky. He was thinking about what he would do if the Cold Ones attacked. He simply was in no shape to fight. He realized he may not be ready until they reached Russia. This infuriated him. He hated feeling useless.

He saw Ella bring in a tray of food. For some reason he felt more relaxed.

"Thank you."

[Arabella Granger]

Ella beamed at him. "No problem," she said, setting down the tray and moving forward to check his vital signs. "Are you feeling alright? In any pain?"

He shrugged. "I'm fine. Just a bit...restless," he admitted.

Ella laughed and sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasping his. "I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised, should I?" Her smile faded a bit as she added, "But you really do need to rest. You had far too close a call for anyone's taste and you need to get better. All right?" she asked, a faint worry showing in her eyes.

I came so close to losing him...we all did. He can't risk hurting himself again, because...if he did, I'm not sure what else I could do to help him.

[MWBailey]

Abe had let Rowland room with him "for a few days," until the party to Germany left the Boheme. Abe was feeling a bit restless, so he asked Rowland if he fancied a cup of coffee; the lad asked him what "coffee" was, so Abe offered to show him.

Rowland accepted, and soon they were in the Galley area of the ship, hunting down the coffee beans, the grinder, the pot, and the milk and other condiments. He showed the lad how to boil the coffee, explained how some folks liked to boil the water plain and then steep the ground beans, and then poured up the pot-boiled coffee in two cups, and added the milk. He then asked Rowland to taste his and see if he wanted sugar. Rowland did, and decided that he wanted quite a bit; apparently his first cup tasted somethiung like coal tar; Abe decided he would try the steeping method next time.

They sat at a table in the galley, talking of various things concerning the ship and it's crew.
Rowland asked why everything was so hectic in Shanghai, and was it always like that, and also what was the deal with Dreyfuss; he had often seemed so helpful one moment and so coolly angry and then enraged the next, and Rowland wondered if he was always like that in battle, and everywhere else.

[Stella Gaslight]

Angel turned to Cain after staring at the ring intently. "So people make marks out of metal, but what if they fall off or get lost?  How do they know then?  Singing marks never go away and I can find you anywhere with them."  Angel just did not understand why people would do it any other way.

[Rowland Elmstone]

Rowland took another sip of the tar-like substance. He then shook his head and looked back at Abe.

"I mean, I am still trying to figure out why those monsters were after us. No one seems to be afraid of them, which would mean the beings are known to you and the entire crew. You also have the correct weaponry, which would also insinuate that you have fought them before. So why are they following the ship?"

He was looking at his cup while he logically thought through everything. He had been thus far enjoying the ride on the ship, and rooming with Abe wasn't bad at all. The only thing Rowland missed was the lab back in Shanghai. He enjoyed his experiments and knew he would at some point have to talk to Emma or Mr. O'Landry for use of their labs.

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss stood a little apart, listening to Angel speaking about hers and Cain's special "singing marks." The idea sounded like somnething a lady might like, he thought. Not that he expected to ever have that pleasure again, of course. Once a man gets about so old without marrying, he reasoned, it became less and less likely that any woman would be interested in them.

He had seen many who appeared to be in such straits; Unknowing of their state in that respect, they continued to chase after the opposite gender and thus became what people called an "old fool"; smart enough and old enough to know better, but so enamored with being enamored, and so convinced that the ladies were still interested, that they didnt pay attention to reason. Indeed, many times they refused to reason at all.

Still, it was heartwarming to see and hear Angel talking about love and the marks that she and Cain bore because of their devotion one to the other. It was almost enough to make him...No, Dreyf, He thought to himself, You have no prospects, and especially not on this vessel, so forget such thoughts. they are not for you.

With that thougt, he turned away and went to the hold, and began to measure out the wood and othe rmaterials for Emma's Heat cannons, intending to start building the carriages for them, lest he become bogged down in useless yearnings. In about ten minutes, he was drawknifing a beam to shape it into an axle....

[Nigel Wetherby]

  "Well, human's cant sing the mark on. So they make ones out of metal and diamond to show how much they are willing to give to make eachother happy."
Angel nodded, supposing she understood, but still thinking singing ther mark on was better.
"Ye can sing tha mark on along with the ring if Jen wants" Patrick said with a knowing smile.

[MWBailey]

Abe thought about Rowland's question, and began what he suspected might be the most complicated explanation of anythingthat he might ever utter in his life.

"Because we are among the few who know such things as you just mentioned; if such things were common knowledge, the possibility of such knowledge getting out would not be such a threat to them.  The Cold Ones are still very vulnerable, and will be, as long as they are not the ones who control the entire world. We know how to stop them, so they are determined to stop us. Such causes tend to attract a certain type of adventurer, and that type of adventurer, that sort of person is what the monsters seek to prevent from propagating, by destroying us.

Abe paused as Rosie investigated the contents of his cup, snorted, looked at Abe reproachfully, and coiled up at his feetand appeared to go to sleep.

Abe then went on to say that he had known old veterans of various kinds all of his life, and  that Dreyfuss was cut from pretty much the same cloth; but especially the sort of adventurer who strives to save the earth from what threatens it, he said. It seemed to him, he said, that when any type of adventurer gets old, they often begin to fear a death in bed or, as he had heard some actually say out loud, they wanted to "die with their boots on," in the service of a great cause, So that that what they havelearned will not be forgotten, but cherished, because they made a difference.

"Thus, the Old Ones who are not the armchair-warrior, stay-at-home types," he said, "tend to see death in the distance and run to meet it, instead of running away from it; Dreyfuss," Abe said, "seems to me to be at the stage where an Old Warrior seeks those with whom he can leave the knowledge about his life and not have it be forgotten, and sees death waiting for him on the other side of every doorway, be it the Cold Ones or the other world destroyers, or simply old enemies seeking to settle a score."

"They become obsessed with saving as much of theior world as possible, so thatthe younger people can have it to learn from... And that seems to be what he is doing with you and I, and everyone on the Boheme; he sees his death quickly approaching and is bound and determined to get the people around him to safety at any and all costs before he is forced to leave them behind. That is why, as I see it, all his senses are tuned to threats and oddities, and he is very nearly invincible in battle -- he is not TRULY invincible of course, but is nearly so, because; like most of the people of his sort who reach the point where death stalks them at every step, he quite literally has already accepted that he is doomed, and thus is afraid of nothing, except, perhaps, leaving his companions on the losing side. Thus, he is willing to use whatever comes to hand as a weapon. He is even willing to embrace what many younger ones of his kind would call "superstition" and "witchery." Even the younger ones aboard the Boheme share that same commitment.

"That is the sort of human whom the Cold Ones fear the most, I think. And, I think, that is why the Cold Ones seek to destroy us: Because we WILL see our world made safe, even if no one else but us knows that we were the ones who made it thus."

[Stella Gaslight]

Angel took Cain's hand and then had Jen take Patrick's.  "I will sing Jen's part and Cain can sing Patrick's"  And she sung about all the beauty of earth and how she wished to share it with the one she loved for always and in a sweet clear voice Jen echoed her song adding her own feelings and their joined hands stared to glow.  Then it was Cain's turn.

[ShredsnPatches]

Jen had accepted with a whispered "Uh... uhm... yes!" and a stunned little smile had crept onto her face and stayed there. Being a practical sort of girl, she'd never really dreamed about weddings and marriage proposals, so this had come as a bit of a shock. She took Patrick's hand and held it tightly, grinning quietly.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Patrick responded in a less than composed way. With a triumphant cry to the stars, he wrapped his arms around jen, giving her a powerful, passionate kiss. He broke off suddenly and did a few backflips, truely earning his nickname from George as "The monkey".
Cain watched with quite a bit of amusement at his brother's reaction.
George watched the simian display and chuckled to himself.
"IT appears that we've restocked on bannanas"

After calming down a bit, Patrick hugged Jen tightly. "Ye've made me tha happiest madboy in tha world!"

[MWBailey]

Dreyfuss, having heard the music, had broken off from drawknifing the guncarriage axle he was working on, and arrived in time to hear the end of the song, seethe kiss, and remark, mostlyto himself, "I guess he is a flippin' monkey..." He chuckled, held out his hand, and said, "congratulations, Mr. O'Landry, and may you never miss a vine!"

I have no wedding present to give you, save what I might come across in later times, but for now, I at least offer you friendship and my best wishes. 'May you both have your share of happiness, peace, and and the best of life, and friends in places both dark and light'.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Elisha nodded. Normally he would have rejected any attempts at help. But he'd very nearly seen the other side. And for once, he believed there may be things worth living for, besides the endless battle. He however, felt a bit...detatched here. He couldn't think of anything to say. So he simply said what he felt.

"You're...very beautiful." he managed. But he meant it with all honesty.

He moved his left arm across, looking at it. He'd long ago gotten used to the parts, but he couldn't help looking over Patrick's new designs. They were definatly better aesthetically. Still...they were just cold metal. Nothing beautiful.


-----------

Jimmy watched Ella again. He realized that he should be checking other parts of the ship, finding as much as he could. But he'd relayed a fair bit of information, which he though sufficient. Even with that close call with the old man. For now, he couldn't help looking back at Ella. Seeing her after this long was...interesting.

[Arabella Granger]

Ella blushed and looked away. "No...really, I'm not..." She looked back at him and smiled. "But thank you," she said, squeezing his hand.

She didn't know why she felt so shy with Elisha all of a sudden. It was ten times more awkward than it had ever been with them aboard the Boheme before Shanghai, and she didn't know how to fix it.

"So...have you heard about Jen and Patrick?" she asked. "They've decided to get married."

Immediately she looked away, knowing that that had been undoubtedly the wrong thing to bring up. I wanted to make it easier for us to talk, not harder! Why can't I ever do anything right?

She reached over and felt Elisha's pulse once again, just to have something to do. Then she placed a cool hand on his forehead to check for any signs of fever, which would mean that his incision could become infected. Then, not knowing what else to do, she leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead.

------

Jimmy smirked at the display of affection below. Oh, Ella, what about me? he thought mockingly. I thought I was your one true love! Don't you remember all the good times we had? All the times we saved your skin when we should have just let you freeze to death, scrawny little thing that you were, just so there would have been one less mouth to feed? Stupid girl. It's going to be so tragic to have to split the two of you up, it really is. He laughed quietly.