Laying The Bait

Posted on Sun Sep 4th, 2016 @ 11:45pm by Falon & Warrant Officer Awf

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Ning'Tao

* Ning’Tao - The Bridge *

It had taken Falon a split-second to read the plan hatching between Ronin and Paz and he fully intended to help. He hadn’t delved deep enough into Paz’s thoughts to read everything he intended where Rhian was concerned but he had a good general idea. He had tracked down Ronin and got the particulars as to his own part. Now, it was a matter of meeting the object of all these machinations. He opened the doors and entered the bridge, stopping to take a look around. His gaze settled finally on Awf.

“Hi, you’re Awf, right?”

The Ocampa paused for a moment to throw back his head, offering the other a smirk for the time being. "Yup, that's my name, don't wear it out!" Despite the gravity of the situation, which involved essentially being on the bridge of a pirate ship, it looked like he was still being every bit as goofy as ever. Awf may have been someone who never learned to grow up, but with how short his lifespan was he might not have wanted to anyway. "Could I give you a hand with something?"

“Nah, not really. I’m Falon, the new engineer,” he answered. “I met Rhian down in the galley and she mentioned you were new to the crew also.” He had purposely mentioned Rhian, curious as to what reaction he would get from Awf. “So I wanted to meet you.”

If he had wanted a reaction, then he certainly was going to get one out of Awf. Looking up a bit with just the tiniest sense of palpable jealousy, the Ocampa smirked a bit and then took a step back as well. "So you know Rhian too then? How do you know her?" Well, that would have indicated that he at least considered them connected. Pausing, he smiled and tried to put out his hand. It was mostly a front though.

Falon sat down in the navigator’s chair and propped his feet up on the console. “First time I’ve actually met her, though I’ve seen her down in Saturnalia a time or two. She was sitting with Paz in the galley when I got there. They are off to tour the ship or something.” He didn’t miss the spark of jealousy in Awf and didn’t need telepathy to notice it. “Cute kid she is.”

Likewise Awf had no need of telepathy to tell him that the other might very well have been messing with him in the process. Looking other's eyes for the time being, he paused and then finally smirked again. Taking a seat as well he settled in and raised a brow. "...just how cute do you think she is?"

Falon shrugged. “Not bad, but a little young, at least for me. Paz doesn’t think so though. I understand she’s this crew’s thief? Handy thing to have. I bet she could talk anyone out of anything she wanted to.”

Well it looked like Awf had focused on the too-young comment for the time being. He looked up at the other from the seat next to him and smirked a bit at the rest of what Falon had been saying. "Wait, Paz, really? I guess that you're not the competition I should have been worried about then."

It was enough for Falon that he had planted a seed of doubt. “Eh I don’t know that Paz is the one to worry about either. You’re a likeable fellow, no problem, right?”

Considering that he didn't have these kinds of experiences yet, Awf didn't realize what the other was trying to do, but he was certainly doing it well. "Yeah, she'll end up with me..." It wasn't as confident as before, however.

Falon raised an eyebrow at Awf. “Sounds like the wind has shifted out of your sails a bit. You want my advice? Watch out for women in general. My former captain found that out the hard way and now he’s buried in the brig on the station and isn’t going to be let out. All because of a few women. He lost his head and got stupid.”

"What did he do exactly? Did one of them turn him in or something, or did he get someone pregnant?" Awf frowned from the side of his mouth for a moment since it didn't sound like either situation was really all that ideal exactly. He didn't want to end this little adventure that quickly, but on the other hand he figured that he really had started to fall for Rhian at this point and he couldn't put those feelings back in the box.

“He found it amusing to jack with their minds, make them do things they didn’t want to do, among other things. He also let his jealousy get the best of him and was responsible for the sale of a Fleetie to a slaver and helped get her off the station.” Falon shrugged. “They didn’t take too kindly to that, as you can imagine. It was his own fault. He was an idiot and good riddance. My point is, never let a female make you lose your mind, that’s all. Where are we going anyway?”

Should he have done his best to mess with Awf's fragile naive mind, then he most certainly was doing a pretty good job of it. The Ocampa's facial expressions seemed to drive that point home for sure. Regardless, though, he figured that he might as well have instead buried himself into the second question that the other individual asked him. "Did you want to take a look at my heading here? I can send it over to your console." He wasn't entirely sure what sort of protocols to use when speaking with the navigator, but then again they weren't on a Starfleet vessel, so he figured they were more relaxed.

“Nah, the short version will do. We’re mainly doing a shakedown so us new folks to get used to this ship. Should be no problems,” Falon assured him. “Look me up when you get off shift. Rhian told me there’s a lotta bourbon on this ship. We can have a few since you won’t be driving.”

With a laugh, Awf shrugged a bit, leaning back to indicate where they were on the screen in front of him considering that the other had only asked for the short version and didn't seem to need too many specifics. "Sure, I'll catch up with you later on then. This is a much smaller ship than I'm used to, so it shouldn't be hard at all."

“Later.” Falon stood and crossed back to the ladder that led down from the bridge. Moments later, he was gone.

Shrugging a bit, Awf looked back and didn't know what to say. He whispered a quick "later" under his breath before turning back to look down at the console. That being said, it seemed that he had now carried the weight of doubt across his shoulders.

*****************
Falon
Planting The Seeds Of Doubt

Awf
Mister Elf Ears