((Ah okay sounds good. We can have fun fighting with him over the treasure))

Swallow woke slowly, sitting up and shaking her head, atempting to wake herself up. She rubbed at her eyes, irritated, before throwing back the covers and quickly dressing for the day. She didn't bother glancing in the mirror. She knew what all her outfits looked like on so there really wasn't any point in reaffirming what they looked like on her. She made a quick stop at the bridge and checked their course, not that she was good with maps or charts but she had the basic idea (sort of) and everything seemed to be going fine.
After reassuring herself that all appeared to be going well she made her way to the galley and grabbed a small breakfast before going on her usual morning tour f the ship, making sure everything was in working order before returning to the bridge.
"Anything to report?" she asked Lucario.
"Some clouds up ahead," he reported. "Don't appear to be anything serious at the moment but..."
"You don't trust them," Swallow finished.
"Exactly," Lucario replied. "Might want to go down adn tell that mechanic of yours that the engines might have some work cut out for them if a storm hits us."

*in the novel I read the charming roguish treasure hunter ends up with the mercenary captain :') I will try and not copy Meljean Brook's work though xD*

Going into the Hold in order to find some parts she needed, Willow smelled a familiar scent, but one she hadn't smelled in a long time. Following it, she found Mr Jeremiah Gunther, sitting behind a pile of crates, smoking opium.
She raised an eyebrow at him and he grinned sheepishly.
"Is this the part where you bribe me not to tell your wife?"
"Lily? She knows already. Been helping me cut back though."
"this is cutting back?" Willow shrugged and dug around for the parts she needed before going back to the engines. When she got there she allowed herself to breathe properly again. The smell of opium brought back memories - bad, seductive, dangerous memories.

((We'll just need to wait and see how the RP turns out. Who knows what twists and turns we'll come up with.))

As Swallow entered the engine room her eyes immediately landed on her new mechanic. She frowned slightly. The other female looked a little pale, perhaps nautious.
"Are you alright?" she asked, forgetting formality for the moment. Her crew member's health came before protocol and at the moment Willow didn't look quite well.

Willow straightened. She hadn't heard Swallow come in. Her breathing normal again, she managed a nod and a smile. "I'm fine captain."
She wasn't sure how her captain would feel about her mechanic being a former opium addict. Maybe she wouldn't care - a good number of pirates smoked the stuff. But it was something that she had decided long ago to put behind her.

Swallow knew when she was being lied to but at the moment it was none of her business. As long as whatever it was didn't affect Willow's ability to work on the engine then it was none of her business. It appeared to be personal, whatever it was, so Swallow left it at that.
"The reason I came down here," she said, shifting the topic so taht the other female would be more comfortable. "Is that Lucario believes there might be a storm coming and the engines may go through their first real test with you as our mechanic. Do you think you can handle that?" She allowed a smirk to touch the corners of her lips, hoping the other would take it as a challenge and thrive under pressure. That was how many of the bets worked.

Willow grinned despite herself and pulled her goggles down over her eyes. "Ready for whatever comes at us, captain. How soon till the storm hits?"
She had never been on an airship going through a storm before, but she'd had to work under difficult conditions before. And she welcomed a challenge. Willow was the sort who did not give up or back down easily.

"Last I saw the clouds looked about...thirty minutes away but depending on teh wind speed we may hit any time between ten to forty." She was glad to see that the other appeared to have gained a new spark at the thought of getting the ship through teh storm and she nodded internally. It had been a good choice to take on this young mechanic.
"I'll send a crew member down to tell you when we're about to hit," she said, turning to leave the engine room. "Get everything ready in the meantime and prepare for some rough weather. We don't know how bad it will be but I'd rather be safe than sorry."
She spared a thought for Drevin in the secret compartment of th cargo hold before putting it out of her mind. he had been given food and water earlier so he would be fine and the hold was one of the most secure areas of the ship so he would be fine.

Willow checked that the engine was running smoothly, and pulled on a sturdier pair of heavy-duty gloves. When strong turbulence hit an airship the energy output of the engine had to change to keep the ship steady. It was Willow's job to regulate the output and also partly control direction. Wind often hit one side of the ship harder than another and the engine had to compensate.
The mute girl trotted in, having just refuelled the fires. "Keep it coming," Willow told her. "We're going to need plenty of steam to keep this going." The girl nodded, and began to load up her bucket with coal.

Swallow made her way back up to the bridge and found Lucario staring out at the clouds. They were a lot closer now, closer than she'd thought they'd be.
"Report!" she barked.
"Looks like we'll be hitting in about fifteen minutes," Lucario reported, possibly leess depending on the head wind."
"I've let Willow know and she's monitering the engine," Swallow replied, glancing out the window again before looking down at teh instruments. She glanced at Lucario again and exited the room, going down to the main area of the ship and quickly informing her crew of the situation. They immediately got into position, preparing for the storm to hit. The passengers were instructed to stay in their rooms, both to keep them out of the way and to ensure that they were not hurt. They might not pay as much if they got injured although ti wouldn't be Swallow's fault. They were warned so if they got themselves hurt then it would be their own fault.

The roaring wind and sudden hail that hit the engine room porthole informed Willow that the storm had hit. Gritting her teeth, she set to work on the engine, which was protesting loudly. "Come on, sweetie, you can do this," Willow said soothingly to the machine. A wrench in hand, she reached in and adjusted the pressure, and redirected some of the engine's output.
After a few minutes, Willow had the engine in hand. After the initial turbulence, she got the engine compensating for the wind and hail, and the Sparrow flew more smoothly. There was the occasional jolt, but considering the size and force of the storm, the engine was holding well.

"Speed?" Swallow asked, staring out the window.
"Holding steady," Lucario replied immediately. "Engine appears to be stable and balancing us just fine,"
"Good."
So far teh wind had been the worst of their problems along with poor visibility but nothing worse so far. Rain was beginning to fall and the windows wee starting to cover with water droplets making it even harder to see out of. 'It's just water,' Swallow told herself, staring out at what she coudl see. 'It's just water. As long as there's no lightning we'll be fine.' She hadn't spoken aloud and she knew it was only herself she was trying to convince but the wind seemed to be picking up speed again, atempting to toss and turn the ship on a whim but the engines appeared to be holding.
"Hold steady," she ordered. "If we can make it through the worst of it and reach the other side then we'll be in teh clear for a while,"
"Yes, Ma'am!2 Lucario replied, staring down at the steering instruments intently.

Luckily, they passed through the storm quickly. The engine had taken a beating, but with a little tweaking it would be fine. Willow left the mute girl in charge of keeping the engine running, and made her way up to the bridge to give an update to Swallow.
As she approached the bridge door, she saw a figure leaving the captain's study. Shrinking back out of sight, she got a look at his face - Ash Lamire. What was he doing?

"Nice work," Swallow complimented her navigator as Lucario wiped a trickle of seat from his eyes.
"Thanks," he replied. "But if the engines weren't working right I doubt I would've been much help."
"True enough," Swallow replied. "But you still got us through the storm and I think the crew and passengers will be grateful for that." She made sure everything was alright beore exiting the bridge. She would find Willow and compliment her on the engines before doing a thorough check of the ship to ensure that nothing was damaged. For the moment everything seemed to be running fine but you could never be too careful after a storm and she'd rather be certain than take chances, especially when they were carrying passengers, paying passengers at that.

"Lost, Lamire?" Willow stepped out and saw the adventurer jump. He collected himself quickly, a smile on his face.
"I was on my way to the bridge, to see if there was anything I could do to help." He didn't know she'd seen him leaving the study, but she wasn't going to let him know she knew he was lying. Not yet.
"Looks like we're clear from the storm. Good of you to want to help, though."
Passing him, she went to the bridge. She'd have some interesting things to discuss with Swallow.

On her way down from the bridge she saw Willow heading towards her. She stopped, allowing the other female to come to her.
"Good work on the engines," she complimented. It was well deserved after all. "I don't think we've passed through a storm that smoothly in years, not with the mechanic we had on board before. Excelent job." She smiled at the other and her gaze drifted passed the other female for a moment and her eyes caught sight of a the back of someone turning the corner behind. She couldn't tell who it was from the angle though.

"Could I speak to you privately, captain?" asked Willow, biting her lip. "It might be nothing, but I have a feeling this could be important."
She had been wrong before about people - it had led to her designs being stolen - but it was easy to see that Ash Lamire was not all that he said he was.

Swallow's eyes narrowed slightly at the request before she nodded her head and gestured for Willow to follow her.
"Let's go to my quarters," she suggested. She led the way to her outer office and, once inside, she closed the door. What could her mechanic possibly want to talk to her about? Did it have something to do with the figure taht she'd glimpsed turning the corner as she'd been talking to the other girl?
"Now," she said, turning to face Willow. "What is it that you wanted to speak with me about?" She kept her tone light, inviting, not wanting Willow to feel uncomfortable.

"It's Lamire, captain. The adventurer." Willow glanced around on instinct, but of course they were alone. "I'm pretty sure he's up to something. I just saw him coming out of your study - as if he went there while there was a storm to distract everyone. When I asked him what he was doing he lied to me."

Swallow's eyes narrowed as Willow spoke.
"He was, was he?" Her voice was low, almost a growl as her eyes flicked around her office, looking to see if anything had been disturbed. Her eyes alighted on a few nick nacks on a shelf a short distance away but their jmovement could have been caused by the jolting of the storm so it was hard to tell. That sneaky little...she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between what had been moved by accident because of the movements caused in the storm and what had been delibertaely moved.
"I suspect I'll need to have a friendly 'talk' with him sooner of later," she mused aloud, her eyes returning to Willow. "Keep this to yourself for the moment," she instructed. "I will allow him to think he has fooled us...for the moment. No need to show our hand too early, after all."

"Yes, ma'am. I won't tell anyone," said Willow. She paused. "If nothing was taken then perhaps he was after information. He doesn't seem to be the thieving type to me, anyway."
What sort of information could he be in search of? He had asked about their destination at dinner, but that could have just been curiosity and/or politeness. No matter what he happened to find though, she couldn't see what he planned to do. She'd have to keep an eye on him.

"Good," Swallow nodded in approval before standing and coming around so she was in front of the desk. "We will keep this between ourselves for the moment. If it becomes necessary I may tell Lucario but that is only if Lamire presents a threat." She walked to one of her shelves and pulled out a small book. She flipped through it for a moment, making sure it was blank before turning and handing it to Willow. "Here," she said. "You seem very observant and that is always useful aboard a ship. If you see anything otu of the ordinary be it misconduct by my crew, parts of the ship that need repaired or suspecious activity by any of our new passengers take a note of it. You might not always be in a position to talk to me straight away and details are lost so easily over the space of even a few minutes. If this is the case then write it down in here and when we have the time we can go over your notes. Does that seem acceptable? Do not go out of your way to do it though. I don't want your work on the engine to suffer because you are spending too much time away from it and monitoring the ship."