Rauri

Jacob tucked the tray more firmly into his elbow giving the door a quick double tap before entering; they were six hours from London, the night was cold and dark this high up in the sky, but he knew his captain and partner would still be awake, honestly it was luck and sense of her own innate rhythm developed over the years that told him she would have returned to her rooms after tinkering with god only knew what.

What he also suspected was that she had been driven to her quarters by a biological need which she had than forgotten to satiate, likely finding something else to obesse over in the few minutes between entering and sitting down. “You need to eat Rauri.” came the gentle amused, yet persistent voice.

Jacob set down the covered tray, finding a clean chair (or making one) to sit with her, she always took better care of herself when he sat with her to keep her mind focused on the task of dealing with her bodies needs.

@alex

Once upon a time, the redhead would have brandished a weapon at any intruder at such an hour, regardless of how politely they had knocked. Nowadays, she just flinched, knowing the door had just swung shut from her own return, and uncertain whether she was going to get chewed out for it again.

Begrudgingly, she nodded and rolled up a few blueprints to leave space on her desk. "Aye. Oi'm aware. Ta for lookin' oyt for me." Rauri offered, rubbing her neck before uncovering the meal. "You're too gran' ter me." She mumbled, an obvious blush blooming along her skin at being found out again.

She never knew what to say when he came to make her take care of herself. Thanks was usually the best she managed before she finished eating, as she did so now. Scarfing down the food in the least elegant fashion of likely most people on the ship, she bowed her head again in thanks for the meal before stacking up the dishes and putting the lid back on.

"Oi trust de ship is al' ready for boardin'?" She offered idly, flipping through papers to find ones that she meant to share with him and hadn't gotten around to yet.

@kel

Jack had known Rauri since she was a teenager, and that relationship for the most part these days seemed to revolve around him making sure the genius managed not to accidentally kill herself by neglect, while keeping her financials in the black.

“As always Captain.” Jacob inclined his head, giving her the title when she acted in that capacity, ‘Rauri’ was saved for when they weren’t speaking ‘officially’ “We need to replenish our Ghost Rock supply when we return State side, but we should beable to off set part of the cost by -” during this delve into the miuta of ship business Jacob opened up the hard backed folio to consult his notes, a purely reflexive action as he had it all memorized - “importing tea and silk, it is much cheaper to buy here and sell there.” he tapped the list thoughtfully. “We should think about adding a route to India or China.” he offered.

@alex

Rauri listened as much as she was capable of. Being fair that didn't give a whole lot of attention to the matter. She couldn't help it, put her in the actual numbers, and her mind could process them well enough, but making them all work together was something she only sometimes managed with her inventions, let alone with the accounting of running the ship. She could haggle for parts with the best of them and keep costs down, but she couldn't sell that to a customer or come up with ways to actually make back the money they needed when her mind was filled with other things.

Besides which, she trusted her second to keep everything running smoothly like he had from the very beginning, when she was just a street urchin excited about getting a full meal tonight. He had been there when she was recovering from getting her first bit of monster built in, and when they had officially declared her too close to the edge to risk getting any more.

She nodded when he finished speaking. "Sounds loike a plan. Oi'll write up sum letters lookin' into de rippers in dohs areas so we can choose whaich is better suited." She offered, already digging through her belongings to find the official seal she had for the task. "An' yer nu yer can call me Rauri. Especially in me cabin in de middle av de noight." Rauri added, a small chuckle at the formality before she came across the blueprint she had been looking for.

"Speakin' av Ripper business, Oi 'av somethin' oi want yer ter clap yisser eyes on." She said, putting as much confidence into the words as she could, passing him the design she had been working on whenever her focus could allow for it. It wasn't one she liked to work on when she was at anything but her best, and certainly not something she wanted insanity to touch.

She presumed the glove like design would be easy enough to comprehend, so she just let him look over it, rather than try and explain off the bat.

@kel

Honestly he never approved of Rauri’s modifications; they took an already unstable mind and brought it perilously ever closer to shattering - who thought it was a good idea to graft bits of the very things they fought so viciously against to the body was a good thing? But as always his job was to warn, take up the tasks that he was suited to and try his damndest to keep her sane.

“Of course Captain.” his smile was all amusement as he willfully disobeyed, after all he had his own little quirks as well.

The mention of attaching themselves again to the Rippers lodges drew a small sigh, they had both lost enough hadn’t they? And over the years the missions had changed, or perhaps he had changed; either way he no longer had that drive to hunt, kill, destroy.

The frown that thought inspired transferred to the blueprint she shifted over for his inspection, at first he didn’t know what to make of the device; that it was some sort of glove or brace was clear but for what -

Jack’s left hand under the dark grey gloves he habitually wore tightened reflexively, pulling at old scar tissue.

“Rauri…” he sighed but turned a soft sort of smile to her - “I’m fine dear heart. Honestly.” to prove it he raised his arm to lay his palm on her cheek with a only slight hitching delay as old burns pulled at poorly healed skin. “You don’t need to spend the effort of magic on me.” there was always a price, and Jack feared how little she had left to sacrifice.

@alex

Rauri perhaps ought to be mad at him for disobeying her time and time again about calling her by name, but the best she ever managed was a pseudo dirty look, stifling laughter as she did so. She didn't love the way he looked at her grafting scars, the way she could read his lingering dislike in his eyes, but she didn't mind when he joked around.

She hadn't always been like this. She had been eclectic, before the first procedure, but she had never been quite so fragmented as her fragile psyche was nowadays. Honestly, the vast majority of her 'quirks' beforehand, had come from being an optimist who grew up on the streets. She learned to cope in weird ways, and it made her seem unhinged. She had never minded, save that her handler and truest friend had never really understood that she had possessed a whole mind when she made her decision to receive grafts.

And it was true. They had both lost plenty to the Rippers. Their lives, indivisibly twined with the monster hunters. He had lost so much freedom. In his movements, in his life- he had scars he couldn't explain away to the average person. Rauri- well. Her very soul was on the line to be used as a demon's plaything.

It was also true that they had gained much from the Rippers. Rauri had gained a purpose. A world where her mind and gifts were appreciated for the non-linear paths they took, and she wasn't judged for where she came from. They were both safe from the streets. If they needed it, they had a place they could go, and people who would feed and clothe them. And they had each other. Rauri never would have met Jack if it weren't for the Rippers.

She sighed into the touch of his hand on her cheek, taking it in her own and peeling back the glove to stroke the ruined flesh there. Enunciating as carefully as she was able, Rauri replied softly. "No, You are not, Jack." She squeezed his fingers before going to the rest of her notes and finding a page. Rauri offered it to him, the basics of what the sigil inscription would entail listed on the paper.

"De cost is low. an' ye'd be able ter play de piano again." She continued, voice sincere, before adding on with a wicked grin. "Den we'd 'av a back up pianist for de next time our main is half seas o'er."

@kel

She might have been mind whole when she made the first step, but each one after was chasing a rabbit down a hole that only grew ever deeper, and that girl who looked at the world at its worst and still smiled had been lost behind the ever growing glow of madness in her beautiful jade eyes.

It hadn’t been his injury that soured him to the Rippers, it had been what that had seduced her into becoming, tempting that brilliant curious mind into paths that noone should venture down, knowing that it would end in her mind fracturing under the unnatural strain of it.

Jack let her strip off his glove, the fused flesh of his littlest and ring fingers sliding out with difficulty, “I am more fine than you dear heart.” he murmured, hating and missing these moments between them. His feelings for her were complex but at the core and before anything else he was loyal to that jade eyed girl, and would follow the scarlet banner of her hair where ever it lead.

But lord how he wished there had been another path.

“I’ll make you a deal.” he smiled softly, “I’ll let you pay that price when you let me find someone to help in your fight.” his thumb stroked over her temple, hand sliding to push back her unruly hair.

@alex

For Jack, it may have been the damage the Rippers did to Rauri that soured his idea of working with them. For Rauri, it was the damage they had done to him. He felt so beholden to her, and she knew in part that had to be because he felt responsible for the life she had chosen. He wasn't much older than her, but he had once been infinitely more prepared than she was. Despite that he had still lost so much mobility to the war against the dark.

She had never been concerned about her growing madness. It was the path of all geniuses that their minds degraded with time. The hoops that they forced it through, the rigours of science, had done equal damage to minds greater than hers. Rauri had known she would end up with a splintered mind from the day they had taught her to read.

She frowned despite herself, not knowing how to debate his logic. All too easily, her mind had begun to split into 'Rauri' and 'Captain Breen.' It was part of the reason why she didn't truly mind him calling her Captain when they spoke. It forced her to be present with all of her. Not just what piece of her was most relevant at the time.

She leaned into his touch, sighing softly despite the warmth colouring her skin. "Gran' so." Rauri murmured, a small nod punctuating the acceptance of the deal. "But oi'm not waitin' for yer ter fend someone for me ter start workin'." She added, pointedly. He could search for someone to fight at her side, but she wasn't spending that time idle when she could devote it to building the device.

"An' if dis werks, Oi'm plannin' on givin' de plans ter de Rippers." Rauri commented, knowing this would drive home a reason why he ought to let her regardless. "For use in place av sum av de grafts."

@kel

Oh he had known from the start that her mind would work tirelessly and it would take a determined will to keep her from self destruction he had taken on that burden willingly enough. But the addition of the ripper implants had taken his task from ‘lifelong’ to ‘futile’.

For an instant his heart leapt, shock as she so easily accepted his deal unfiltered in his expression -

“Oh dear heart…” Jack shook his head slowly, realizing that she misunderstood him “I mean this fight-” he rubbed his burned thumb over her forehead, the one for her mind, her soul. “We know there is more in this earth than the Rippers can lay claim to understanding, let me find someone to help you.” he pleaded feeling his own heart tearing at the words he knew were futile. Rauri believed she needed the implants, and the only way back so far as they knew was to remove them, and even than the results were...unpredictable.

Jacob sighed at her explanation, nodding once as he pulled back, “Just tell me before you do more magic?” he requested quietly.

@alex

Rauri blushed furiously at the misunderstanding. Not to mention the pet name again, combined with the tender touch. Playing cool, she smiled. "Deal's de seem. Not loike you'll fend someone ter 'elp me an' who understands de ripper warrld in short order." She replied softly. If she had progressed to the point that Jack was making deals with her like this to try and get her help- that meant she was further gone than she could track.

And she trusted him. If he thought she needed help, she needed help.

She quirked her lips. "Yer nu oi don't 'av ter chucker de magic personally, roi? Most av me designs, i'll let someone else put in de work. But oi'm not gonna trust someone else's magic on a piece made for yer." She replied, resting her head on his hand slightly. Especially when it came to experimental designs and repurposing of spells and sigils that had never been used in concert- she wasn't going to let someone else try and make that work when it came to Jack. Especially since the basics of the design meant she'd have to work the magic on him, else he wouldn't be connected the way it was designed for.

"But that's fair." Rauri took a deep breath, centering her mind as best as she was able, so that he would be able to see the words she spoke came from a place of... pseudo clarity. "Oi promise."

@kel

“Ah Rauri girl..” he smiled, that rare true one seen a handful of times over the years; “Since you are in such a bidible frame of mind...does this mean I can convert the secondary water treatment plant into a VIP sauna for the guests?” the moment could not be sustained, not with out it becoming something that she wasn’t mentally stable enough to comprehend. So tweeting her about his slow conversion of her pirate ship into a vessel truly fit for luxury civilian travel was a safe topic to deescalate the moment.

He tugged back on the glove, she hid the marks that upset him and he hid the marks that upset her. They each had their ways of looking out for the other.

@alex

Her smile mirrored his for the one blessed moment, reacting to the honest happiness on his face with a similar feeling of contentment. Then he went and attempted to ruin it. No doubt on purpose, and Rauri knew that if she kept silent and maintained her smile, he would be drawn back into the moment between them-

But she also knew that it wasn't best for either of them for her to do that. She allowed it, leaning back out of his reach and huffing at him. "Yer damn well canny." Rauri snapped, flicking at his arm as she settled in her chair once more. "Oi don't want ter be stranded over de ocean, wan plant failin', an' not 'avin' a back up. Especially not fer a damned sauna."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, taking back the exo-glove plans and exchanging them for some she had for general improvements for the ship.

@kel

“‘Canney’-“ his eyebrows lifted Innocently “that means ‘can ye’ doesn’t it? Oh captain I knew you’d be reasonable.” He flirted with danger fully expecting the need to dodge in response to his oh so innocent tone.

“It’s a five day trip Captain dear, surely we don’t need a whole extra room just as a back up for water.” He weddled only half meaning it and mostly as a way to tickle a reaction out of her.

Of course it was honestly on his list of possible renovations so there was that as well.

@alex

Rauri choked on a laugh, grabbing an old blueprint and threw it at him. She wanted to make a response, but all she managed was an inarticulate noise of amused rage. She huffed for a moment before a smile started growing across her face.

"If yer chucker..." Rauri started, humming and savouring her words. She leaned forward and gestured for him to listen closely. Taking a deep breath, she whispered to him. "Oi 'ill tear apart de boozer."

Grabbing a piece of scrap paper, she started scribbling madly before shoving a design into his hands. "Scrap al' de tables an' put in an armoury. Wat do yer tink?"

Rauri smiled, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Daring him to say something.

@kel

Jacob let the blueprint hit him, catching it with his good hand, taking a curious glance at its contents. “You mean the bar now or our small cassino?” he asked innocently, unsure if she was aware of his newest edition since their stop in New York; he had told her of course, but Rauri had the habit of only half listening when she was distracted (so always) and if Jacob was a touch sneaky in some of his efforts...well he didn’t think she’d mind that he’d converted a cargo space into it. After all they didn’t transport such large items any longer.

“My dear Captain, why would we ever need an armory? We already have your workshop.” he chuckled hooking a thumb in its general direction.

Jacob stood, scooping up the empty tray and his folio - “We dock in less than 5 hours, I will have a steward ready with your uniform freshly pressed.” The hint was broad that he expected she would be dressed in it for docking. “New passengers are set to arrive in 12 after we resupply. Can I expect you to sleep somewhere in there?” he smiled fondly down at her.

@alex

Rauri levelled a glare at him. She knew of his renovations- many things went in one ear and out the other, but she never missed out on changes to her baby. Hell- she had drawn up the blueprints for the Casino. She wouldn't trust anyone else to properly balance the weight of materials with functionality. The cargo space that had been converted had been one of the two built for ripper gear, so it had needed serious work to clean it out.

"The boozer. We 'ad ter spend a month in dry dock for dat casino, Oi'm not gonna git it jist yet. Oi 'ad ta scrub de salt and blood up meself." She grumbled. She had still built iron filigree into the edges of all of the tables, along with inlaid salt lines in the wood- but it had been more than a little annoying to strip the protections from the room. Rauri knew- if a member of the cabal was going to be transported among humans, it's best if its aboard a ripper ship where she can keep an eye on them- but it didn't change how much work it took to build in all the protections or to remove them, depending.

If he had wanted to slip a renovation past her, it would have to be to the chapel. She had designed that one still, but she didn't go in there unless absolutely necessary. The demon heart in Rauri's chest had its uses, but sanctified ground still exhausted her.

She scoffed again, pushing him lightly. "Oi'm no' sharin' me workshop." Rauri replied simply, sticking out her tongue at him. Not to mention that her workshop was filled with things that would explode if used by someone she hadn't built them for.

The rest of his statements did more or less go in one ear and out the other as she blew a little fire and started bending a piece of metal for the glove she had designed him. "Aye." Rauri replied automatically, filing the numbers away- but not as things she needed to be ready for. Instead for how much time she would have uninterrupted to work on the exo-gauntlet.

@kel

“One last thing-“ he pulled a letter from his folio seemingly having forgotten it till this moment “we have an interesting request. We received a letter requesting passage, however the sender would like to meet you directly once we dock before finalizing the booking.” He offered her the letter if she wished to read it herself “either here or at a hotel in London proper.” He waited to make sure he had her attention “I would prefer if you are going to accept it, it be near our dock so I can be near by Incase things are...not as they seem.” It was at the surface an odd request and with their history it could also easily be a trap.

Honestly he half hoped she’d deny the meeting.

@alex

Rauri was already forcing metal into a new shape, and didn't even spare a glance at the paper. She knew he would have read it, and he conveyed all the information he knew she would need. Plus, fire and paper tended not to work well together.

She half listened as she worked, already enthusiastic to be working on the glove she had put her heart and soul into, even if it meant she had to get her head shrinker. Probably by one of them mentalist folks, though Rauri wasn't about to give her friend any ideas that weren't already rattling around in his head.

She'd have to hold off on the sigils until after the mystery meeting, no point in going there without her strength at its fullest- a thought that had her hesitantly glancing at her bed. She supposed a night's sleep would aid her In her response times...

Rauri hummed slightly before turning decisively. "Gran' so. Set a meet for roi near wha we make lan', oi can pop by as Rauri an' clap if anything's up before droppin' by as Captain Breen." She offered, sparing her closest friend a smile, and waiting to see what he'd think before she returned to her work.

@kel