88.1 - Planning A Galley Kitchen

Once the party is back aboard, Linnet, Galley, and Triscuit seize a quiet twenty minutes to themselves in the Starfall's hold, seated on crates between the Meteor and the piles of spare parts Linnet cannot name. Jasper undoubtedly could, and would be happy to, if he had fifteen spare minutes and a captive audience.
(The actual galley is currently full of most of the Hive preparing a surprise birthday cake for one of their own - Linnet left before asking which. She only stopped in long enough to grab some hearty sandwiches and two big mugs of tea, plus some treats to feed the cat.)
Galley is torn between savoring his sandwich and tearing through it so he can ask for seconds after.

Linnet reads his mind and gestures to the basket at her feet. "Don't hesitate, there's plenty. Crew's about thirty-five but the kitchen's stocked for sixty at least."
"If there's one thing I've learned about management, and there are very few things I've learned about management, it's that good food goes a long way toward good morale."
"Thank you," he murmurs around a mouthful.
"My pleasure. They probably didn't stint on that on the Dawn, at least. ...speaking of which, mind if we talk through that plan of yours a little more so we can figure out what to do next?"
"It wasn't much of a plan, really," Galley says, forcing himself to put the sandwich down between bites. "Just trying to figure out what Cassiat's doing."
"Galley, how old are you?"  (Linnet, at twenty-two, is attempting not to shift her voice into Life Advice mode.)
"Uh, 17."
"And Cass about the same. How much of a plan did you have when you two set off on your late lamented ship?"
"Well, we knew where her dad was supposed to be, so we were going to go rescue him. She had weapons for it -- until the blonde woman took them -- and we were going to see where he was and get him out of there. I mean... I didn't know if we were going to be successful, especially since it was just the two of us, but we were going to try. She wanted him back so badly."
"So, not much." Linnet nods. "How did you two get together, anyway?"
"Oh, we met at one of Mama -- Mrs. Alyon's neighborhood festivals. Every two weeks she organizes this big building-wide get-together, and we moved there two years ago, so one time I finally went there -- she'd come by and spoke to my ma about how she wanted to see us there, and it kinda felt like a threat at the time but I think that's just how she is -- so I went, and then I saw Cassiat for the first time and was just like... wow."
Linnet stifles a snort at "felt like a threat at the time." "Cass got a big helping of her mama's bull-rush energy, seems like. I guess Orrey takes more after their dad, though it's hard to say that after meeting him for two minutes."
"Are you two officially dating, or would that not fly with Mrs. Alyon?"
He looks side to side, as if Mama Alyon could descend from the shadows a la Diabolos. "Yeah."
"...but she wasn't, like, deeply invested in the idea, so if you come home without Cass and explain that she's gone her own way, particularly if you explain that she's signed on with a respectable airship crew and she's perfectly safe, her mother's not going to go into conniptions and you're not going to be shunned throughout Saron. Relax, hon, you're fine." Linnet watches Galley to see how far off base her conclusions are.
"Oh, no, Mama Alyon's gonna go spare."
"If I come back without Cassiat -- who wasn't supposed to go anywhere anyway -- and Orrey's still gone too, and it's my fault that Cassiat's gone, she's gonna kill me, and then Orrey's older sister is also gonna kill me."
"Ah, okay, I have a better grasp of it now. So we need to make sure it is not your fault that Cassiat's gone."
Linnet crosses her legs on top of the crate and steeples her fingers in deep thought. "So. Tell me about the part between when we last saw you in Alterna and when you joined the Dawn to look for Cass. Tell me everything so I can try my best to save your hide here."
Galley hangs his head. "There's not much to tell. We went north in Alterna to try to find where Cass's dad was being held. We found the train as it was leaving the station, and we followed it, but it's hard to sneak up on a train in a ship. We tried anyway. I could keep pace, but I didn't have any weapons without any of you on. Cass wanted to get close enough to jump over, but then that Dawn ship came over and opened fire on the train. The train fought back, and we were... in the crossfire."

"...there's more to tell than that, unless you were on the Seventh Dawn the next time you woke up." Triscuit rubs against Galley's ankles for encouragement.
"...also I have questions about how the train fought back, but they're less for you and more for the universe."
"There's more, yeah."  Galley has paused to eat more sandwich.
(Linnet burns her tongue on some tea to fill time.)
"During that fight, we saw a lady on a chocobo come up alongside the train, and then Cass's dad fought his way clear and she rescued him. At this point the Slim Reaper's a little on fire, and the Dawn rescues us, or at least I thought it was a rescue. Turned out their captain was pretty mad at us for interfering in their hunt for someone holding something called an Esper that they wanted to rescue."  Another pause, this time for tea.
"Well, that's just inconsiderate of them. Lady on a chocobo?"
"Yeah. A moogle? She was really fast."
"Hm, interesting. So the Dawn picked you up, and presumably didn't take the Reaper if it was on fire..."
Galley shifts uncomfortably. "Cass said I was wrong about this part, and we started arguing. From what two of the officers were saying, they were going to dump us in the water when they left. The Reaper might have made the trip back, but it might not have, and they were talking like as soon as they left Alterna, we were going to get destroyed by all the magic there. Cass said they were just joking around, that they weren't that mad, and she knew what mad looked like. I thought they were furious with us."
"I haven't talked to enough of the officers to judge which one of you is right, but I'm with you on taking it seriously. All respect to Cass, but mad doesn't always look like her mama. Or Isa." Linnet flips the kitten an unidentified sandwich vegetable; he takes one look at it and uses it for pouncing practice.
"What happened to your ship?"

"The little guy in all the armor said it wouldn't survive the trip. He wasn't one of the two saying we were gonna die. He sank the ship off of Alterna." Galley is still just as sad over the loss of his ship as he was the day it happened. "Cass, then, she said she'd stay on the ship and work for them if they got me back to the Triad safely. Then I could get back home to Saron, she said, and let everyone know she was okay. She'd been talking to the captain, I don't know what about, but she didn't talk to me about it beforehand. Just said this was the way to make sure we all ended up okay."
"See, she does care, she's just...putting her usual amount of forethought into it, I gather."
"How'd you get the Slim Reaper, anyway? Sounds like a story there." (Linnet has only now remembered the name of Galley's ship.)
"Bought it myself," he says proudly. "Worked at the docks, saved up enough gil to buy a little ship of my own. Took Cass on a few rides before we went to Alterna, y'know, to prove I could do it."
Triscuit jumps into Galley's lap in pride.
"Nice." Linnet raises her mug in a toast. "Okay, so, when you got the lead that Papa Alyon was in Alterna...did you, perchance, do much in the way of background research before you went? Did you two know anything about what you were getting into there?"
"I mean, some? Cass learned about a route from her job waitressing, I studied the currents, we went to the library and, uh, read books on Alterna," he says in a tone that definitely means they went to the library and meant to do that, "she did some combat training, we practiced running away really fast..."
"Mmhmm. So, keep the next one away from there, yeah?"

"...so how long were you on the Dawn, all told?"
"Just two weeks," he says. "I worked on other ships some to save up money for a trip back home, but I just couldn't face going back to Saron without Cass. So I realized the Dawn was coming back every week and always looking for more crew, so I took a risk and signed on then, hoping they'd forget who I was and let me on."
"And had they forgotten?"
"Yeah, they didn't have any idea who I was. I just don't know why Cass would act like she didn't, either."
"Either she's busy as all hell, she's seeing someone else, or they have some intense brainwashing as part of recruiting new crew. They recruit every week?"
"They look for new crew every week. A lot of turnover. I stayed below decks when I was there, they didn't let just anyone up on the deck, but it's terrifying. You can just hear these horrible storms, and there's cannon fire, and I know at least one person died up there... they pay really well, because Alterna's dangerous, but they're going deep in."
Triscuit kneads deeper. Cats know.

"Galley, how much of that two weeks did you spend trying to talk to Cassiat, and how much of that time was she busy doing something else? It sounds like they're really pushing toward some seriously dangerous stuff."
"I tried every day the first week. Trying to get her attention, bringing her food during down hours, even just a small conversation when no one was around. Every time, she acted like she didn't know me. It's not like every time she saw me was the first time she'd ever met me, but she didn't let on at all that we knew each other... even when I tried when no one else was around." He looks crestfallen. "The last time, she actually came to see me before I left the ship, and she told me she hoped I found who I was looking for. Still... still nice, in her own way, but it's like she had no memory of me at all."
"Huh." Okay, now Linnet's concerned.  "...do us both a huge favor and don't tell her brother about this conversation."
"Can you just not tell him I'm here at all?"
"I think he might have noticed you coming onboard, but if he doesn't bring you up, I certainly won't."
"I tried to stay out of his line of sight since he came back with Yves." Galley is not good at remembering names, but he does remember who installed the booster rockets on his pride and joy.
"I think everyone else is on the bridge planning important officer stuff; I ducked out because I'd had too much strategy for one day."

Galley nods. "Anything else you want to know, just ask. I didn't see everywhere on the ship, but I did go around a lot while I was there trying to get her to talk to me. A lot of the crew was pretty nice, even the long-timers. That VIP was really approachable, too."
"Wait, what VIP?" Linnet shakes out of running her brain through Bast's extensive list of questions.
"They've got someone flying with them as a guide. She was under guard basically all the time, but she was really nice. Kinda scatterbrained, though. Blue hair, really pale skin, I think a sylph?"
Linnet drops her head into her hands.
"What's wrong? What did I say?"
"You said absolutely nothing wrong, Galley. Thank you very much."
"If you're sure..."
"There is significant wrong in this situation, none of which has anything to do with you."

Linnet lifts her head. "How heavily was she guarded, and where was she navigating them to?"
"She always had one of the officers with her, but at night they just put two of the standard crew outside her room. She ate with everyone else, though. She didn't seem like a prisoner, but she didn't seem free to move around."
"She was on the ship when you joined?"
"Yeah."
"And you said she was there as a guide - did you get any idea what she was guiding them to?"
"They're looking for something in Alterna." Galley concentrates. "I don't know what, but they mentioned they were looking for a place with both caves and waterfalls."
Triscuit yowls. Linnet nods. "What were you doing on board that let you do such an excellent job of listening?"
"I was just a laborer, moving stuff. They brought a lot of stuff on in crates to sell to fund these trips, so I was part of the crew responsible for moving them around and making sure everything was stored in the right place. So I had to walk around asking people where everything went, which was a good excuse to go talk to Cass."
"Never underestimate the power of backstage crew." Linnet fist-bumps him.

Triscuit, being a kitten, has gotten bored of laps and is digging into slightly-open boxes. So far, he's uncovered a crate of very durable tableware, some intentionally ragged drapes, a bowl of wax fruit (which he nibbled in puzzlement), and...something crashes. This crate never made it to costuming; Eiri must be wondering where all of these masks went.
Linnet scoops up the wild couerl and plunks him on Galley's lap, kneeling to clean up the mess. "Man, some of these are a gaudy mess. But, I suppose they're effective stage props. Seen anything like this on board the Dawn?" she asks casually, holding a Phantom half-mask up to the harsh lighting of the storage bay.
"...kind of," Galley says, squinting. "The officers all carry one. Cass had one too. Do you know why that'd be?"
"Why they carry them, no; why they're on the ship, I have an idea. Did they all look similar?"

"Similar but different, like how you have different types of sail material for... I mean, they looked like they're part of a set, basically, but each one was different."
"...that was officially more than I know about sails." Linnet gives him a sheepish grin. "Were they, like, wearing them at any point?" She holds the half-mask to her face, gathers some drapery for a cape, and strikes a very "Music of the Night" pose.
"No, there weren't any masquerade balls happening," Galley says, increasingly confused.
"Then why the heck would they carry around masks all the time?" Linnet puts the costume down and stares at the mask in her hands. "I assume they didn't tell you much about them? And...part of a set, like these plates" (Linnet gestures to another open box, where none of the plates quite match but they've obviously tried) "or, like, 'the officers are all carrying these around the same way, that has to mean something'?"
"I'm trying to get into these people's heads and figure out how they got into Cass's head. That's all I'm getting at here."
"Well, the four the main officers carry all look kind of similar, like they had the same designer. The one Cass has looks similar in that it's a mask -- like a fox, maybe? -- but it's a different style of mask."
"...if they've roped her in to the point where they've given her a mask already..." Linnet bites her lip. "You didn't see the regular haulers carrying these, I take it?"
He shakes his head.

Linnet closes the boxes back up, but keeps the half-mask out to fidget with it. Triscuit tries to bat it out of her hands. "Okay, okay, I get it, you think masks are weird. I'm not asking you, you hyper little furball."
"Galley, while it's just us, can you be totally honest with me? Separated from the fact that they're sort of brainwashing your girlfriend, what sort of vibe did you get from that crew in general? Like, if Cass weren't in the picture, would you go back?"
Galley considers this.
"They seemed pretty happy, overall," he finally says. "A lot of banter, a lot of chatter, and a lot of making us new guys feel welcome, honestly. The work I did wasn't anywhere near as dangerous as what was going on abovedecks from what I heard, and it's grueling and constant work, but there was a lot of downtime on the Machanon trips, and the food was incredible."
"...so do you think you'd stay, if you could forget about Cassiat?"
"Me personally? No, I want something quieter. Maybe just a fishing ship, or small hauling work." Galley watches the couerl kitten savage its own tail until it tumbles off of the table. "But it wouldn't be a bad ship to work on if you didn't mind that life."
"Let me retract my invitation to sign on with us for a while, then; 'quiet' is not one of our watchwords." But Linnet's smiling.
"I mean, until Cass is back, I could see it... but I don't know about Orrey," he says.
"I understand. While I'd normally declare him about as threatening as one of these masks, I do recall him being pretty shouty where his little sister was concerned. Mostly at her."
"I know why Cass wanted to go off on her own, and I supported that decision and would again." Galley settles back in his chair, unwilling to elaborate.
"I get it. Family's important. My parents have never done anything exciting enough that required racing to their rescue, but my brother's the type."

Linnet stretches. "Well, is there someplace you'd prefer to stop other than Saron, if you're avoiding the Alyons for a while until we figure out how to either get Cassiat back home or excuse her absence?"
"I've got a friend whose cousin lives in Caerwyn, and he's out there for the next few months, so I bet I could land there for a little while."
"We'll make arrangements for you somewhere. You're welcome to bunk with us in the meantime, we've got the space, just tell us ideally the day before we land somewhere. Can you sing?"
"Not really."
"Good. Around here, that's a defense mechanism. And how do you feel about cake?"
Galley looks around, as if there's a trick to this question. "It's, uh, good?"
"Excellent. I happen to know there's a surplus of it in the kitchen; it's one of my crew members' birthday and several of her friends are experimenting. Want to go raiding with me?" Linnet hops up from her Pose of Seriousness and shoves the half-mask into her pocket.
"I'm not one to turn down cake."
Mentally shuffling through the Hive to determine who's single and who might be interested, Linnet collects the kitten and the glum Galley and turns the conversation to lighter things on their way out.