Expedition Private Voyage to Croper's Cove: All Chemistry

[Gyles Stowett]

(Continued from Hang the Treasure!)

Science, engineering, the things a Navy officer learned in brief at University and never used again.

"All chemistry, ain't it?"

The door shut. Gyles shook the spattered ocean spray from his oilskin overcoat at the lintel and hung it on the row of coat-hooks by the cabin's portal. "Making yourselves at home, eh, gentlebeasts? Good. I'm afraid to report little in the way of comforts under sail. I see you've brought your summary on the engine, Ensign Nashirou."

He regarded the wildcat keenly. "An' I believe introductions are in order, ain't they."

He moved to the side table and placed the decanter of brandy he'd been carrying on its weathered ash top. Next, glasses from the cabinet below, into which he poured generously.

For starters, the smartly-dressed cat could tell him which demmed-to-Gates meddling Ministry he was from this time. Yes, that would do. Meddling Ministries were altogether too much a topic in the Navy of late for his sensibilities, too much a topic indeed.

@Kaii Nashirou @Amatis Moontail

 

[Amatis Moontail]

Looking up as the captain entered, the wildcat flipped through the paperwork he held.

Blue blazes, I've already forgotten their name...

Ah. there it was. he placed a claw just below it to mark the spot.

"Ahem, yes, Captain..." He checked the paperwork, making sure he had the right name "...Stowett. My name is Dr Moontail. I was... assigned to your ship by the Bouillabaisse Museum board. I am to act as an observer and field scientist wherever you should land." And, with some hesitance at loosing his last lifeline to remembering the Captain's name, he finished "...All the paperwork should be... In order I believe..."

He removed his claw from the paper, wincing internally at the mark. He hoped it wouldn't be obvious to the captain what he had been doing. He held the thick stack of paperwork out towards the captain.

@Gyles Stowett

 

[Gyles Stowett]

The captain took a chair, passing one of the glasses to the wildcat and one to Kaii as he passed. He didn't really offer, per se, no. For Gyles Stowett, drink was a given in company. "Try this. 1737."

Moontail. Doctor. Field scientist. Observer...

Hard to take a word at its most natural meaning these days.

"Captain Gyles Stowett. The Younger of the two, that is. Charmed." In a closed cabin with two officers on the first day aboard. Poor beast must feel like a particularly interestin' bug under one o' those magnifying glasses now, mustn't he.
"Tied to Innovation any, Dr. Moontail?" The "tied" sounded the way a body might describe a convict shackled at the foot to an iron ball.

 

[Amatis Moontail]

Dr Moontail awkwardly took the glass. He wasn't one to drink. As far as he was concerned alcohol should be in a jar with some odd octopus or eel keeping them well preserved, not in a glass being foisted on you on a ship where you could barely keep the contents of your stomach still, let alone some bitter drink in an open container.

It felt weird to just hold it, but putting it down didn't seem to be an option. He settled for holding the glass as far away from himself to avoid getting any on his clothes while making it look casual.

To be honest, he probably failed about the second half.

His ears caught up with him, and he realised he had been asked a question while puzzling over what to do with the glass.

"Oh, um, I of course practice my discipline with permission from Ministry of Innovation..." He quickly said, missing the negative tone the captain had used. "However I am not an Ministry of Innovation scientist. I work for the Ministry of Niceties. They do... run the museum after all."

"So... the paperwork is in order then?"

@Gyles Stowett