[Audio Only]

[doctordon]

Oh! I got on! Um. Hello, I'm Don Dogoier? This seems like the public network here... I'm uh. I guess I'm here to help? I'm an engineer or a mechanic or whatever. They seemed pretty excited when I brought that up.

[rustling, shuffling noise]

Uh! I'm also looking for my ship! It's the Gokai Galleon? It's red, it looks like a seafaring ship, but it's a space vessel... My friends should be on it. I hope. If they are, I'm sure they've made a scene already. If anyone has seen a group of pi- er. People... With a guy in red? If you could point me to where they are before my frozen food thaws... I'd appreciate it.

I hope they're here..... If not, could anyone tell me where I can find a fridge?

Comments

[showboater]

Of course I did! Yours had the least crap in it.

[Actually, Ahim's did, but he couldn't exactly give away her room, what with the frills and all that.]

Don't worry, I moved the stuff he left out.

[Or more specifically, he'd dropped Tuck's pack in the corner of his own quarters in hopes that he'd be able to return it to him eventually.]

Might've been better to be alone.

[He follows Don with minimum food loss, largely because even though he wants to dump all the carrots out, it's still food and he'd like to stretch it out a little.

Navi is waiting in the main cabin, when they finally make their way up.]

[doctordon]

[As he goes up, he thinks about how clearly whoever Marvelous is speaking about is gone. Man... This isn't going to be good at all. Marvelous is so bad at being alone, and even worse at being alone with Navi. He comes up the stairs to the cabin, which definitely doesn't look like he left it. He tries to ignore that for the moment, but his skin practically itches with the desire to clean.]


Hey Navi. How've you been??

[Without waiting for a response, he grabs the grocery bag from Marvelous and starts setting it out to prepare a meal. He feels responsible for Marvelous' skinniness, though it clearly isn't his fault.]

I'll make something now... But... It didn't look like food was easy to find out there... Should I be rationing?

[As he sorts out the vegetables, meat, and various types of pre-made meals he had bought... This situation is something he doesn't really think can be resolved in a week or two, like their usual extra-universal problems. He's already starting to miss Joe and Ahim and Gai and even Luka. The place is so empty of their influence already.]

[showboater]

[Marvelous settles back in his chair, one knee crossed over the other. He looks sidelong over his shoulder at Don, keeping an eye on him in the scant seconds before Navi finds her way over the thump Don in the back of the head with her metallic talons.]

Doc! Took you long enough.

[For all her bluster, the bird only hits him once or twice before she moves to settle on Don's shoulder, if he'll let her.

Meanwhile, Marvelous considers the food predicament.]

Don't ration all of it, stuff comes into the Junk Pile all the time. Maybe keep an eye on the stuff that'll keep, though.

[Which is Marvelous for 'I kind of cleared out the pantry between drops'.]

[doctordon]

Ah! Ow!!

[He rubs the back of his head where she gave her love-taps. He lets Navi perch on him, and then sticks his tongue out at her.]

Hey, c'mon. I'd have been here if I knew that there was a here. Did you miss cuddling with me, Navi?

[He continues to sort out the groceries, stacking boxes of curry roux and sorting the perishables by how long they'll last.]

What's the junk pile?

[He's pretty good at reading Marvelous' moods, especially when it comes to food. He sorts out the chicken legs and fresh vegetables that he's gonna use to make food right now, then he turns and crosses his arms.]

Did you eat everything in the place? Like, my seasoning and the stuff I was saving for a rainy day or a celebration, too?

[showboater]

[ Navi laughs at the cuddling question, but there might be some truth to it. Marvelous let her perch, but beyond that he had no time for a girl's needs. ]

Not an excuse! Crews have a job, and Marvelous can't run a whole ship by himself.

[ Marvelous sits up in his chair to scowl at her, but then Don is asking him something, and he shifts his attention. ]

I didn't eat all your stupid seasonings.

[doctordon]

[He rubs Navi's head, anyway.]

I know, I know. I'm here now, okay!

[He gives Marvelous a seeking look and frowns.]

But you drank my cooking sherry didn't you? And that champagne that Gai bought for a special occasion.

[Then he sighs, knowing the answer before he even asks.]

And what's the junk pile? I didn't exactly see any grocery stores out there, are we eating out of a robot dump?

[showboater]

[That is the poker face of a guilty man, Don.]

Dunno what you're talkin' about.

[He shrugs.]

Maybe technically. Stuff falls out the tear.

[He sketches at the air with one finger.]

[doctordon]

[Don just gives a little sigh.]

I can deal with just the mirin for now.

[He pauses at the imagery the hand gesture conveys.]

Like they said I did. Well, that's convenient. Sort of.

[showboater]

Of course you can.

[He has faith in your cooking abilities, see?]

Sort of. No sayin' what you'll come up with, but it's not like anybody's starvin'.

[doctordon]

[He gathers up one of the piles of groceries in his arms.]

Well, I guess we'll have to see about that later. This should last us for a while, anyway. Since there's just two of us....

[His voice is just a touch hollow, but he hurries along to put things away in the kitchen.]

So... What's the deal here? I mean, I got the speech about... The whole brave new world and all the riches we could gain by helping it along or whatever. But I mean. What are we doing?

[It's not for Marvelous' ego that he asks. It's not like he's Captain in name only, so Don very naturally defers to him. Polarity and alignment and minor differences in moral outlook notwithstanding, he'd follow Marvelous wherever they had to go.]

[showboater]

[Just the two of them was infinitely better than just him, in Marvelous's opinion.]

That a challenge?

[He hums, thinking.]

I'm not much for building.

[He's also not much for admitting he doesn't really know what he's doing.]

I've been--teaching, a little. Killing monsters.

[DID YOU THINK I FORGOT!?!?!]

[doctordon]

[Well, Don is not much of an idiot, at least not when it comes to picking apart when his Captain is trying to hide something. He can tell that Marvelous is relatively directionless, because that "Pirates take what they want" "Let's make a show of it" attitude seems to be lacking immensely. He puts away that nugget of knowledge for the moment and presses on.]

All that and you still had time to make this place a pigsty!

[He fusses aloud as he socks away all of the groceries, making sure to use some of his less common vegetable hiding spots. He picks out a practically mummified daikon from one of the more obscure ones, and tucks a new one away in it.]

Well, at least I'm here now.

[He comes back out of the kitchen, wiping his hands, and then he pulls a rag out of the pocket of his apron, still hanging on the hook where he left it, and wraps it around his head.]

All right, stay out of my way, Marvelous!

[And he begins his cathartic quick-cleaning, complaining all the way]