"Ahhh... She won't like that." Jack grumbled, frowning at the skiff strapped to the deck. He could see it was pulling against its ropes, trying to get away. "You might want'a be careful there, Cap'n. The Skiff's a bit miffed at being restrained like that." He strode over, all bowlegged and stroked the gunnals. "S'alright luv, no harm, no foul." The skiff stilled a little and waited as they finished untying her and climbed in. Jack sat at the controls and offered a fleeting smile at Viira as he pulled a couple stoppers and lifted her neatly into the air. Their take off and flight was completely smooth. As lazy and sloppy as Jack seemed as a person, his flying was impeccable. He lifted the skiff back to the level of the Ptarmigan and he pressed a button on the controls of the skiff, and a Threshold opened in the hull of the Ptarmigan. He directed their small craft into this blackened opening and brought the skiff up to a landing platform where she seemed to hook herself into a brace. He hopped out of the boat lightly, and turned, offering a hand to help her out of the craft. "Welcome to m'home, Cap'n. Let's begin the tour, shall we?"
Viira blinked as Jack spoke of the Skiff as a living thing... when it clearly was not. Ships might have moods and general personalities but... they were not creatures. Eyeing the other for a moment, she offered a confused, brief apology before gingerly finding her way into the craft. A little unsure of herself, she stayed near the edge, ready to disembark in a blink if this whole flying thing didn't turn out. As it was, his lift off and flight might have been smooth but the sensation was entirely different to the captain and she leaned over, gripping the rail as she stepped in time with the rock of the skiff. At least that was familiar. Shuddering, she recovered her poise and shook her head at Jack, not entirely sure if she was amazed or daunted by flight. "I think that will take some experience...." she murmured, bemused nonetheless. When the skiff settled into its moorings and Jack offered his hand, she nodded her thanks, a little surprised. Not many people did that on her ship. She was just as capable as the rest and climbing was second nature so the gesture struck her as pleasant bonus. Taking his hand, she used him as an anchor and pulled herself aboard, "We shall. What is this place called? It seems akin to our own sub-berths and docks." She peered curiously around.
"Whot, the Brig?" Jack asked, laughing. "Good Ptarmigan, luv, I'm home." Jack called to the ship, and in response gas lights flared up in glass flowers all along the walls. The planks and curvature of the hull was very much as one might expect on the inside of a ship, but there were a number of seemingly floating levels of decks, jutting walkways and support beams connecting them in a lattice of storage spaces. There was one other skiff moored in the same floating fashion as the one they had just climbed out of. Several doors stood off the many landings spiraling above them, but Jack lead the way to a set of brass rungs set into the wall of the hull. "This way, Cap'n. First to the more habitable parts of the ship, then to the workings..." And he hopped the foot distance from the ledge to the lowest rung and began climbing up at a reasonable pace.
"The Brig?" She looked taken aback at that, then laughed, "Looks nothing like our Brig, good sir." Tugging her gloves snug against her fingers, she started after him, and kept her surprise at the automatic torches relatively quiet. That must a relatively useful ability... it took a dedicated crew a fair while to set the lamps blazing on the Storm Seed. Climbing behind him, she took the opportunity to look at the landings and crossways and everything made of metal. It astounded her that it didn't all just fall out of the air. Metal was denser then wood and had to be shaped for use in water, otherwise it sank... the how of why it managed to stay aloft was something she was most keen to learn. "Do you travel everywhere in her?" She asked, conversationally.
"Most assuredly." Jack replied, grinning down through his feet at her. "She's the best ship in the universe." He passed several landings and finally pulled out in what looked like a corridor in a high class mansion. "Ptarmigan and I have been together, whot...nigh on two-hundred years now. I wouldn't give her up for anything." He rested a hand against the cream and olive striped wall paper paneling on the top half of the walls in the corridor. The bottom half was beautifully finished cherry wood, the floor carpeted in a tightly woven rug of deep greens, gold, cream, blue and grey weave. Despite the proclaimed age of the ship, all looked pristinely cared for. Here too the glass flowers protruded from the walls on elegantly cast brass pipes and along the ceiling copper tubing ran the length of the hall. Jack roused himself from his seeming reverie and with a ghost of a smile still on his lips he strode forward, hands stuffed in his pockets. "This was to the habitable areas..."
Virra shook her head, "Two hundred years? It's hard to imagine..." She stopped when he paused to think, standing tall and sure as she regarded with the interior with interest. It wasn't at all like what she was expecting... more like her chambers then a metallic boat. "Do you keep a galley and stores and the like, as a ship would? How many rooms are there?" She walked by his side, pausing only to touch one of the flower lanterns.
"Aye, the Galley's below, with the larder and such. By rooms, do you mean habitable ones, or including the Chambers?" Jack asked over his shoulder, as the reach the middle of the hall. He paused. There was a set of brass rungs leading up, a set leading down, an atrium opening up off one side of the hall to a threshold, and further along the hallway a seeming ballroom could be seen.
"Quarters, but a count of all would also be enlightening." She replied easily, stopping when he did though her gaze continued down the hallway to settle on the ballroom. Why...? One brow arched in a quizzical expression as she turned to face him, "I thought you said you lived alone... what need do you have of a ballroom? It must be lonely to dance by yourself." She frowned a little. Such public spaces were multi-use and transient on the Storm Seed, storage as needed then cleared as needed. To keep a room open meant it likely had purpose beyond what she was seeing.
"There are ten habitable rooms, including Quarters, Library, Observation Deck, Conservatory, Atrium, and Turrets. There are another twenty-two rooms including the Chambers that are for work, storage, equipment and so forth." Jack paused, following her gaze to the Observation Deck at the end of the hall. He was silent for a moment, and then, in a soft, nearly husky tone, he replied. "I do live alone. It was not always so... Mystic's Blood....it has been years since I had a party on those floors..." He sighed deeply, a single lean hand rising to his chest, falling away in a faint sketch of a dance movement. He strode towards it. "Likely the room I spend the most time in, these days. It's the Observation Deck, come." He swept past the other options he had paused indecisively before and into the aforementioned room. He paused on the landing, his hands braced against the wrought iron balustrade and waited for her reaction. The Observation Deck looked out from the stern of the ship, and was floor to ceiling glass panels that wrapped fully around the room. The expansive ballroom floor was down in hardwood in maple. The area they stood on was a raised deck from which two sets of gently curling stairs swept down to the dancing floor. The upper parts of the wall here were upholstered in green velvet rather than the striped wallpaper. Set into the velvet were a series of brass-gilt-framed portraits done in rich oils: one of Black Jack, considerably happier and younger looking in a crisp midnight green uniform and grinning, with a plaque reading "Lord Jonothan's Medal Ceremony"; one of Jack in formal garb with a beautiful young woman, clasping hands and smiling in front of a large, elegant mansion in green estates with a plaque reading "Lord and Lady Harlow at Thistlewaite"; one of jack as a young man, barely out of his teens, seated in front of a stern looking brown-haired man and an exotic dark-skinned woman with luxurious black hair and stunning blue eyes in a library setting, this one's plaque read "Lord and Lady Harlow with Master Jonothan at Ptarmigan Hall". On the floor to one side of the stairs were a number of pipes, tubes and instruments, many of a nautical look for navigation. Mirroring this on the other side was a cabinet mounted with a large gramophone, a series of charts and maps on the wall mounts and a decanter of what seemed to be port. From the floor itself and stretching up through the glass ceiling was a massive telescope underneath which were a series of gears, cogs and a well-worn chair with ornately carved wooden legs decorated in gold leaf and upholstered brass brocaded silk. "Welcome to the Good Ship Ptarmigan." Jack murmured softly, and with a modest amount of pride.
She paused when she stepped into the Observation Deck and let out a quiet breath of surprise. It seemed much about Jack was surprising. The view from the windows was much like that from the Captain's Chair aboard the Storm Seed but then it was the contents of the room that drew her attention most. While telescope dominated the view, it was the pictures that drew her first... glimpses of the past that seemed strange to her. The pictures themselves spoke much about Jack but she had manners enough not to ask prying questions and so inspected them closely as she headed towards the ballroom's floor. Once there, she turned her gaze to the telescope and laughed, "That's a big far viewer you have there." Lacking more elegant words, she drifted closer to inspect it workings, "Does it work bilenses and gears as well? How far can it look?" She tilted her head up to align her gaze with the direction the telescope was pointed and frowned thoughtfully, "You gaze at the stars?"
"We call it a Telescope. It can give me a clear view of the surface of the moon, if I so direct it. It can be adjusted not only for focus on nearness or farness, but also on aim." he tripped lightly down the steps and gestured for her to sit in the chair. "Here, let me show you..." He knelt beside her and began cranking wheels and levers on the floor and the side of the machine. The sections of the Telescope began to twist and rotate, as Jack brought the lens about to aim directly at the levels of Storm Seed that it sat level with. He extended the glass to its utmost reach and then using a small reflected peephole, brought it into focus. "There, tell me, what all can you see through my Farviewer?" He asked with a gentle tone, and stood, leaning over her with one hand braced on the back of the chair she sat it where it was bolted to the deck. There was an amused twinkle in his eye, a thought-lost joy in discovery in being able to bring wonder to a people who had no malevolence to his past or reputation. It was a much-needed fresh breath.
"Really?" Viira's voice rose a little, not in anger but in enthusiasm. This was something of personal interest to her... she had her own farviewer, of course, and it was a good one but it couldn't see the moons' faces! Without hesitation she took the seat and leaned back to watch as Jack adjusted the telescope, noting which gears and supports whirled with which motion. At his question, she quirked a brow and pushed back her untamable mane of hair as she leaned in to press an eye to the scope and found herself staring at the top two decks of the Storm Seed, including the Bridge. The motion in the Ptarmigan had caught attention and several officers were staring at her. "Hey! They look close enough to touch! They're completely confused." She sounded rather amused by that statement and let her gaze rove elsewhere, all sorts of details were visible... things she hadn't gotten to see in such a way before. The way rails and supports wrapped around the outer edge, the colours and wear of wooden planks a man's height in width... it gave her a new appreciation for her vessel. Pleased as punch, she continued to look, murmuring things she was noticing for a few more minutes before she sat back and looked round to reward Jack with a broad and earnest, perhaps a touch mischievous, smile, "It's quite impressive. I am amazed! You said it can look at the moons too? I've never seen the face of our moons closely before..." The taste of one thing had whetted her appetite for more discovery, it seemed, and she nudged the scope, curious as to how to set the telescope on new targets.
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