OOM: Pearl Repairs

[politestpirate]

The sky is cool, grey, and occasionally misting, but that just means when you are working hard you can keep warm enough.

And there is certainly plenty of work to be done. The deck of the Black Pearl has been cleared off, with debris and pieces that are large enough to reuse stacked carefully. All over is the gleam of cut and exposed wood, the splintered edges cut and smoothed in preparation for patching sections. One mast has been cleared of charred and torn sails and rigging, the canvas and rope set in one area to work on before it can be sent back up.

One of the current priorities, however, is fixing the stern section of the ship, the back wall of the captain's cabin, that took some of the worse damage from the kraken-

Scottish autumn nights can start to get chilly, afterall.

Party thread style, slowtimes more than welcome.

Comments

[pirate_jack]

There's the sound of boots on wood as Jack saunters in -- slowly. He's carrying a bundle of oiled cloth, piled high enough that it's not especially easy for him to see over it.

This shouldn't matter, given how well he knows the ship-- but somehow Jack manages to bark his shin into a chair that's been moved somewhere along the line, and drops everything on the floor.

"Bugger."

It's about at this point that he notices Kaylee's presence. With a shrug, he grins at her.

"Hello, lass."

[gonna_live]

"Oh -- "

Kaylee straightens up, and comes over to see about putting things to rights, stooping carefully. "Sorry about that -- "

[pirate_jack]

"No worries, luv," he assures her. "It'd have ended up on the floor anyway. Much more better than me table yet."

He glances over at where she'd been working, then back at her.

"Patching the wall, aye?"

[gonna_live]

By which time she's straightened up.

And she nods. "It's gonna get cold out here, real soon." Something almost shy about her manner. "Thought it probably ought to happen sooner rather'n later -- if you don't mind...?"

[pirate_jack]

"Mind?"

Jack grins wickedly at her.

"I'm obliged for the help, luv. It's a lot for me to do all by me onesies, savvy?"

[gonna_live]

"Well, yeah, but -- " Kaylee finds herself grinning back. "It's a little odd me comin' back in here to do work -- little more shut off from everyplace else, dong ma?"

[pirate_jack]

"'Course it is, it's me cabin," he points out. "S'posed to be shut away from the rest of the ship -- being what's needful for all sorts of reasons."

He shrugs.

"Work still needs doing, more so with winter coming, as you said."

A look of distinct unhappiness crosses his face as he says this.

[gonna_live]

Kaylee sees it.

"You're not lookin' forward to it."

It's not a question.

[pirate_jack]

He slants a sideways glance at her.

"Doesn't get cold in the Caribbean, luv," Jack says dryly. "Not used to being bound up in ice and snow."

[gonna_live]

...'bound'.

Kaylee bites her lower lip, and nods.

"We'll get you fixed up." Low. "Promise."

[pirate_jack]

"I have every faith in the applicability of your carpentry skills what can be used to reconcile the pieces together into a satisfactory whole, luv," he says blithely.

"Now. D'you need me to help you, or should I set to putting the oilcloth over what there is of the latticework so far until the 'plexiglas' is available?"

[gonna_live]

"Depends." More businesslike, now. Almost appraising. "You want the back part latticed, or you want it just solid window?"

It's easier to be more firm on her feet when there are questions to be answered, and things to be done.

[pirate_jack]

"Window that big, all of a piece, would be bloody expensive," he mutters. "And a horror to replace if needed done. Best to have the lattice all through, aye."

[gonna_live]

She nods. "Gonna do that first, then." Brisk. "How big you want the squares?"

[pirate_jack]

"Just a moment." Jack leaves the cloth lie and goes to a side chest, which he opens, pulling out a rolled set of papers.

He strides over to the desk and unrolls them. The top sheet is a hand-drawn blueprint, showing the Pearl's drafts and measurements.

He flips through a couple of others before finding one that shows the cabin in detail.

"This here's how she used to look."

[gonna_live]

Kaylee takes the paper -- parchment -- thing -- and turns it upside down, and tilts her head.

And turns, and looks out the back.

And nods, slowly. "That's...gonna be handy." Quiet. "You want her as she was, or...you want to make any changes?"

[pirate_jack]

There's a long silence, and then,

"What sort of changes?"

[gonna_live]

"In design. Anything."

[pirate_jack]

"Nothing like that, luv."

A quick flash of a smile, oddly wry.

"Now, your captain's convinced me of a few things -- like the virtue of plexiglas, savvy? -- but she's me Pearl, and I'd not change the heart of her."

[gonna_live]

"No," Kaylee says, quiet. "There was -- "

She'll blame Mal. Understands why. Understands that he wasn't well. Understands that as much weight as they all were under, he was under more than anybody but River -- and River wasn't in charge.

She'll blame Mal, but not out loud. And sure as hell not to anybody that isn't crew.

" -- we had to trick out Serenity, about a year ago. In a bad way. Mod her up. There's -- the way we fly, what makes her go -- it can poison you, you're not careful to keep everything in shape. I had to -- " A quick breath in, and out. "It was a disguise. To get us through a bunch of ships did the same thing."

"Hurt like hell." It's matter-of-fact. "I'm not sayin' you ought to change anything, it's just -- "

"I know what it's like to -- "

"Yeah."

[pirate_jack]

The glance he slants at her now is surprisingly enigmatic.

"You brought her back, luv. All of you did, aye?"

A beat.

"She's her old beautiful self now, just as she's supposed to be."

There's a certainty that rings through his tone.

[gonna_live]

It's enough to get him a curious glance from Kaylee.

She nods. "Yeah." Quiet.

And she looks back down at the plans. "Only mod's the plexiglas?"

[pirate_jack]

He watches her for a second, and then says quietly,

"Helps to see her as she's supposed to be again, luv. I know."

A beat, and Jack adds,

"That's the only for the time being, aye."

He and Mal Reynolds had discussed a number of things, captain to captain, but issues of cost as well as matching materials mean that Jack's focused first on what's most important.

[gonna_live]

Cautiously:

"I don't know what she's supposed to be."




"She's doin' pretty gorram good right now."

[pirate_jack]

"Meant your Serenity," he tells her.

A beat, and he glances around the cabin with a fond gaze.

"She is indeed."